Round Two
by Mystic Deadman
Summary: It started as friendly banter. When things get out of hand, Ken and T.K. find themselves renewing a rivalry.
1. Scenic Scrap

It was a beautiful day to be in a park. The sky was clear, with a few small clouds in the air. The day was a comfortable temperature. The slightest breeze blew through the air. Families shared bonding time with lovely picnics carrying vast amounts of food and stories. Yes, it was the perfect day to go to a park.

"Bitchface!"

Scratch that.

"Whore!"

A pair of arguing teens broke the serenity of the park in which Yolei Inoue, Kari Kamiya, T.K. Takaishi and Ken Ichijouji presently occupied. Kari and Yolei continued to throw insults at one another while their respective partners looked on in mild shock, bugged eyes and everything.

Ken turned to T.K. "Uh...how did this happen?"

"I'm not too sure," T.K. shrugged. "One minute, they were making fun of some random girl. Next minute, this."

"Who said what?"

"Well, the girl they were talking about was wearing a purple skirt neither really liked," T.K. explained. "Kari said it reminded her of Yolei's hair. Words were exchanged, and now they look like they're ready to kill each other."

Ken merely nodded, still not quite understanding why his girlfriend was currently upset at one of her closest friends.

Yolei leaned in close, mere inches away from Kari's face.

"A whore, am I? At least I'm not throwing myself over my boyfriend every chance I get, now am I?" She sneered, referring to the frequent makeout sessions Kari and T.K. tended to have.

"Maybe not, but I'm not the one who jumped on a random stranger just because I happened to see him on TV!" Kari fired back, shoving the lavender-haired girl out of her face.

Ken winced, hoping that wasn't why he and Yolei were together.

"Uh..." T.K. spoke up. "Maybe we should separate them..."

"No way. You don't want to get in Yolei's way when she gets angry."

"Oh?"

"Things tend to start flying, and they're usually aimed at the closest person's head."

"Makes me glad I don't have to go through that. Kari just scratches the hell out of you. I think she's been taking lessons from Gatomon."

Meanwhile, back at the farm, Yolei looked at Kari incredulously. How DARE that pink-loving louse touch her with those impure hands? Who knows where they've been?

"You did NOT just shove me!"

Kari quickly walked up into Yolei's face.

"Sure did, bitch! And I'll do it again!" Making good on her statement, Kari gave Yolei yet another forceful shove.

"Oh, you're dead now." Yolei growled. She looked just over Kari's shoulder and pointed. "Hey, what's that?"

Ken, T.K., and Kari all turned to see what she was pointing at. Turned out to be nothing, because Yolei took advantage of the situation to let loose the fiercest battle cry she could possibly muster and tackle Kari to the ground.

Hair was pulled. Fingernails slashed at skin. Bodies rolled around on the grass, trying to gain the upper hand on the other. At one point, Yolei tried to bite Kari's arm, only to get her eyes poked out. T.K. and Ken couldn't do anything but watch as their girlfriends tried to kill one another.

"Hey, Ken..."

"Yeah?"

"Shouldn't we do something to stop them?"

"Is either of them bleeding?"

"No."

"Then shut up and watch the show."

The brawl continued for what seemed to be an eternity, though it was closer to ten minutes. The girls eventually slowed their fighting, exhaustion starting to set in. Yolei managed to mount Kari and wrap her hands around Kari's neck, cutting off Kari's air supply. Ken decided then that enough was enough. He ran over to the girls and yanked Yolei from her perch. T.K. ran over to a coughing and gagging Kari. Once she stopped and was able to breathe again, he helped her onto her feet.

Ken was having trouble holding his own girlfriend back. Yolei gained a second wind when Ken pulled her off and tried over and over to lunge at the source of her rage. Ken did his best to hold her back.

"Let me go, dammit!" Yolei screamed, trying to get around her boyfriend. "I'll strangle her with that stupid camera string!"

"Yolei, stop it!" Ken yelled.

Despite being choked moments earlier, Kari heard what Yolei had to say and started toward the other girl again. T.K. had to step in and hold Kari back.

"Oh yeah, bitch?" Kari screamed herself. "I'll take that retarded bandanna off your head and shove it your throat!"

"That's enough, Kari!" T.K. admonished.

Kari instantly spun around to face T.K.

"Why are you defending her?" She asked incredulously. "She just tried to kill me!"

"Over idiocy that _you_ started!" T.K. answered.

"Oh, so now I'm an idiot?"

"That's not what I'm saying!"

"Then what are you saying?"

"That you need to calm down before one of you does something that you'll either regret or get in serious trouble for."

Kari and T.K. stared at one another, neither moving an inch.

Yolei had given up on trying to get past Ken. Instead, she opted to take her shots in another manner.

"Y'know," she sneered, a wicked grin on her face. "You're pretty ugly when you get mad."

Kari's eyebrow twitched. "What was that?"

"You kinda remind me of a certain Digimon. Now, which one was it again...?" Yolei put a finger to her lip, feigning thought. Ken paled. He knew where this was going. "Oh! Now I remember! You look a lot like that LadyDev-mmmph!"

Ken slapped his hand over Yolei's mouth, cutting her off. "Don't go there." He whispered.

T.K. looked at Kari to see her reaction. Kari hung her head low, forcing her bangs to cover her hatred-filled eyes. Her hands were balled up into fists and shaking with rage.

"Ken," she growled. "Take your hand off Yolei's mouth."

Ken sweatdropped. "I don't think that's-"

"NOW!" Kari screamed, causing the other three to jump. Ken complied, backing away as he removed his hand. T.K. followed Ken's lead and took a couple of steps back.

"Now then. Go ahead, Yolei. Finish what you were saying."

Yolei hesitated for a moment. The look on Kari's face set off a red flag in her mind. _Don't say it. She'll kill you!_

"You look like LadyDevimon." She blurted before she could stop herself. _Oh no..._

Both Ken and T.K. paled. Ken pulled his D-Terminal from his pocket and started typing up an email. If Kari was going to do what he thought she was going to do, then he and T.K. were going to need as much backup as they could get.

Kari slowly stepped toward Yolei. Her eyes burned with rage. Her lips were so tightly squeezed together that they virtually disappeared from her face, leaving only a thin line where her mouth should be. Yolei took a step back. She matched Kari step for step until a tree impeded her retreat. The lavender-haired girl could only watch as a girl with a murderous expression slowly advanced on her. Once she was within an arm's reach, Kari slowly pulled a fist back.

_Well, _Yolei thought to herself, _goodbye cruel world. It's been real._

Kari shot her fist forward. Yolei, Ken and T.K. all closed their eyes at once. Ken even shoved his face into his hands. He really didn't want to see Yolei getting hit by the last person he expected to throw a punch. A dull thump followed by silence graced their section of the park for what seemed to be an eternity. _We seem to have a lot of eternities today,_ Ken mused to himself. _Wait a minute. Silence?_

He slowly removed his hands from his face, opening his eyes as he did. He turned to look at the tree his girlfriend backed herself up against. There, Kari and Yolei stood. Neither moved, making it look like they were frozen in time. Kari hadn't hit Yolei as expected. Instead, her fist landed on the tree behind Yolei, mere centimeters from her face. The bark on the tree cut her knuckles, causing blood to run down her fingers. Kari slowly turned her head to face Yolei, anger still burning in her eyes. Tears ran down her face. Kari opened her mouth slightly to speak.

"I hate you." She harshly whispered before running off. Yolei slid down the tree, her own face in an expression of terror.

"Kari!" T.K. called after his girlfriend as he gave chase. Ken ran up to his own partner.

"Hey, Yolei," He shook her shoulder a bit. "Are you alright?"

She didn't answer. Yolei was frozen in fear.

"Yolei..."he pulled her into a hug. "It's alright. It's over. You don't have to be scared anymore."

Yolei slowly wrapped her arms around Ken and buried her face in his shoulder. She didn't want him to see the tears that were running down her face.

"I saw my life flash before my eyes..."

"Well, it couldn't have taken too long to see." Ken chuckled, hoping to lighten the mood. Instead, he started to yelp in pain as Yolei tightened her hold on him, turning her loving embrace into a rib-crushing bear hug.

"It's not funny," she growled. "I really thought she was gonna kill me."

"Alright! Alright! I'm sorry!"

Yolei loosened her grip.

"You'll beat that bitch up for me, won't you?" she asked. Ken paled for the third time that day.

_I'm gonna pass out at this rate_. He thought to himself.

"No. I'm not going to put my hands on her or any other lady."

Yolei pushed Ken back slightly so that she could look him in the eyes.

"Then beat the crap outta her boyfriend. Make an example of what happens when you mess with us out of him."

"No way. I'm not going to beat up anybody. There's no point in it."

"What?" Yolei was upset by Ken's answer. "How can you let her get away with something like that? She nearly killed me!"

"And I'm grateful that she didn't. Look, I'll have a talk with T.K. about this tomorrow. For now, let's just go home and forget about what went on here, okay?" With that, he gave Yolei the sweetest smile he could.

Yolei pouted. "See, that's just not fair." Ken chuckled as he helped Yolei to her feet. He held her hand in his as they made their way toward the nearest bus station. Yolei leaned her head on his shoulder as they walked.

_This, young Kari, is not over yet._ A wicked grin flashed across her face, unnoticed by Ken.

* * *

Kari continued to run, just as the tears continued to flow from her eyes. She was oblivious to the voice calling out her name.

_Just keep running_, she told herself. _Run until your legs fall off._

Life, however, didn't quite agree with that plan. She felt a hand take hold of one of her arms, forcing her to stop. Kari whirled around, ready to strike whoever it was that grabbed her. She stopped herself when she realized who it was.

"T.K..."

The young boy panted heavily. He ran as hard as he could just trying to catch up to Kari. Moments passed between the two, neither one speaking a word. T.K. pulled Kari into a hug. Kari immediately returned the embrace, crying into his shoulder.

"Shh.." T.K. cooed. "Everything's alright..."

"No it's not! You heard what she called me!"

"I know. She didn't mean it."

"And how do you know that? Did you read her mind?" Kari screamed, ignoring the amount of attention she was drawing to the young couple.

T.K. sighed. "No, I didn't. Then again, you didn't mean anything you said to her, did you?"

"Well, no..."

"Alright, then." T.K. smiled. "You said some harsh stuff yourself. So if you didn't mean any of it, then why would Yolei mean what she said?"

"I guess..." Kari replied, still slightly unconvinced.

"Oh come on, Kari. We both know Yolei doesn't have a mean bone in her body. Look, we'll talk to them tomorrow. Apologies will be exchanged, then we'll go get some pie. Everything'll be marshmallows and sunshine. You'll see."

Kari giggled. "You're hungry."

"Huh?" T.K. asked.

"You're ranting about food. You only do that when you're hungry."

As if to support her statement, T.K.'s stomach weighed in with its own opinion. T.K. reddened.

"I guess I am. Come on, let's go home and get something to eat."

"As long as you're buying." She giggled again.

T.K. wrapped an arm around Kari's waist. She did the same, leaning her head on his shoulder as they walked the nearest bus station. During the ride home, Kari couldn't help but harbor a tiny thought about the day's events.

_This, little Inoue, is not over yet._


	2. Domestic Discussion

**Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon in any way, shape or form. I am not making a profit of any kind from this story.**

* * *

T.K. managed to calm his girlfriend down following the brawl in the park. He took her out to eat at a local pizzeria (_how original, T.K.). _Neither spoke of the incident afterward. T.K.'s mother had conveniently popped up to pick up dinner for herself and offered the couple a ride to the Takaishi residence.

Upon seeing Kari's banged up hand and injured neck, she proceeded to give her younger son the 3rd Degree. T.K. managed to convince his mother that she'd hurt herself falling down some stairs and her neck was a bit sunburned pretty easily. She knew T.K. wouldn't hurt Kari and figured he'd tell her the truth when everything worked itself out.

"It's not good to keep secrets when it comes to injuries. Just remember that." She said as she rubbed some medicinal cream on Kari's neck.

Kari, however, had a much more difficult time selling a situation that hadn't happened to her own family. Her brother nearly tore the front door down in rage after seeing the redness on Kari's neck. It took everything Kari and her mother Yuuko could muster to keep Tai from hunting down and _destroying_ T.K. for his little sister's neck. She managed to sell the redness as a sunburn from being in the park, but Tai still had a hard time believing her.

"How does your neck get a sunburn when you're wearing turtlenecks all the time?" He asked.

"Well, I _am_ allowed to wear shirts without a turtleneck collar, you know. Or do I need to keep one on me all the time?"

Tai sneered. "I'd rather you wear one. It'd keep your boyfriend from getting any ideas."

Kari visibly blushed at her brother's accusation, her face nearly matching the color of his neck."Shut up, Tai. T.K. isn't like that and you know it. Besides, exactly what T.K. and I do when we're together isn't any of your business."

"Oh really?" He lifted her now bandaged hand. Blood slightly seeped into the coverings. "Then how do you explain this?"

Their mother stepped in. "Yes, Kari. What _did_ happen to your hand? That looks pretty bad."

Kari yanked her hand from her brother. "I slipped on some stairs." She rubbed her sore fingers. "I tried to catch myself on the hand rail. I reached for it a bit too late and scraped it on the underside of the handrail. T.K. helped patch me up."

"Well, that was nice of him. As long as you're okay, dear."

"I'm fine, Mom. Really."

"Alright then." Yuuko collected her purse and started toward the door. "I'm going grocery shopping. Your father's going to be late tonight, so I should beat him home. Try not to kill each other, or go _hunting_." She glared at Tai for the last part. "I'll be back as soon as I can." With that, she walked out the door.

Kari turned for her room. "I'm gonna take a nap. Wake me when Mom gets home, please." Tai quickly walked up to her and grabbed her wrist.

"Hold on," he said as he stopped her, trying not to hurt her any more than she already was. "What really happened?"

"I already told you. I got a sunburn and slipped on some stairs."

Tai rolled his eyes. "Oh please. I've come up with better stories on my computer." He wasn't lying. He was secretly fulfilling his personal mission to be a fanfiction writer. Well, it'd be a secret if Kari hadn't walked in on him unexpectedly one day while he was writing. She'd promised she wouldn't tell anybody about it, _especially _Sora.

"You think I'm lying?" Kari asked, feigning shock.

Tai rolled his eyes again. "Knock it off, Kari. I taught you that, remember? Just tell me what happened. If T.K.'s been putting his hands on you..."

"Oh dear God, Tai. You _know _T.K. better than that. He wouldn't even _think_ about hurting me. Besides, even if he did, Matt would kill him long before you even got the chance."

"Then what happened?"

"Nothing. Just leave it alone."

"No!" Tai shouted, not caring if the neighbors or the crazy old lady upstairs with the fifty cats (at last count) could hear him. "Something happened and I want to know what it was. I'm _going _to find out, one way or another. Might as well tell me now before I go beat it out of T.K."

Kari sighed. There was no way out of this one.

"I...got into a fight."

"With T.K.?"

"Would you stop blaming him?" Kari shouted herself, showing as much compassion for her neighbors that her brother did a moment before. "Nothing that happened was his fault!"

Tai put his hands up in defense. "Alright, alright. I'm sorry. Well, if it wasn't T.K., then who was it?"

"Yolei."

"Eh?"

"Yolei and I got into a fight."

Tai sat down on the living room couch and motioned Kari over. She sat down, leaving some space between them. "Okay, maybe I wasn't clear enough the first time, so I'll go ahead and say it again. Eh?"

Kari sighed again. _Can't I breathe normally today?_ She thought to herself. "Okay, here's what happened..."

Five minutes later, Kari hung her head in shame while Tai pinched the bridge of his nose.

"You _do_ realize how ridiculous you and Yolei acted, right?" He asked her. Kari glared at him.

"Don't try and make this sound like it's totally my fault. _She _choked _me, _remember?" She pointed to her red-neck. Not to be confused with "redneck."

"I know. But you started it."

"Did not!"

"Yes you did."

"How?"

"You insulted Yolei." Tai said flatly.

"Er...well...what about T.K.?"

Tai looked confused again. "What about T.K.?"

"He refused to avenge my honor!"

Tai fought to keep a straight face. "'Avenge your honor'? You sound like one of those lame period samurai movies. What were you expecting him to do, smack Yolei around?"

"Would've been nice."

"And Ken would've throttled him. Then there'd be lawsuits...national TV coverage...millions of yen lost...human sacrifices...cats and dogs living together...MASS HYSTERIA!" Tai flailed his arms around.

Kari, however, was far from amused. "This isn't funny, Tai. He refused to try and help me until Yolei had her hands around my throat."

"I don't blame him. You every try to break up a fight while fists are flying? Not fun, I tell ya what."

"Like you wouldn't have pummeled Matt's face in if it were you two."

"A few years ago, maybe. Nowadays, I'm not about to go smack Matt in the face if he insults me." Tai slid closer to his little sister on the couch, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and pulling into a hug. "So she choked you, and you punched a tree...did you do anything to her, by chance? Or did you take all the damage?"

"Oh shut up."

Tai grinned his signature goofy grin. "Just kidding. Look, I'm not going to tell Mom about you two fighting, and I'm not going to try and act like anything other than your older brother. That said, I personally think you should apologize to Yolei for your part. With any luck, she'll apologize for nearly killing you. Then everything'll be marshmallows and sunshine. Right?"

Kari giggled. Tai looked confused. "What?"

"T.K. said the same thing. Marshmallows and all." Tai grinned again.

"We probably subscribe to the same magazine."

"Doubt it. He doesn't have anything he wouldn't want his mother to see hidden under his mattress."

Tai broke the world record for going from normal complexion to beet-red. "You promised you'd never speak of that!"

"Speak of what, exactly?" A voice came from behind. It was a female voice, and it was _not _amused.

Tai paled as quickly as he'd reddened, his complexion going from tomato-red to correction-fluid-white in no time flat. He slowly turned around on the couch, making eye contact with his grocer-holding mother. the expressionless face she had at the moment was one both he and Kari agreed they never wanted to see. It usually meant blood would be drawn.

With a chainsaw.

A dull chainsaw.

A dull, rusty chainsaw.

"Uh..." he blanked. "Hi mom! How long have you been there?"

"Just long enough to now know to go searching through your room for materials not suitable for this household." Yuuko replied as she calmly set down the groceries and head for Tai's room.

_I'm dead, _he thought to himself as he followed her in. She'd find his magazines, and they'd be burned at the stake, with him alongside them.

Kari slipped into her room. She noted Gatomon sleeping soundly on her bed. _That sounds like a good idea._ She quickly changed into her pajamas and slid into her bed alongside her partner. _All I need is a good night's rest. Maybe tomorrow I'll let this go, like everyone wants._

It never happened.

Instead, Kari found herself wide awake late that night, gently stroking her partner Digimon behind her ear. The brawl played in her head over and over again. She could remember yanking on the eggplant hair that tried to harm her. She remembered scratching the flesh that threatened her well-being. She also remembered how Ken and T.K. stood off to the side, gawking like idiots who'd died and gone to Heaven.

_That does it_, she thought. _There's no way I'm just gonna let this go. I'll get even with her. But how...?_ Kari mulled over how to exact revenge against the source of her sleepless night. No matter what she came up with, though, it always ended up the same way: Kari somehow beaten senseless while Yolei walked away with that damn smirk on her face.

She replayed the fight once more in her head. She brought her hands up to her face. _Dammit. T.K. beat Ken up pretty easily. Why can't I take Yolei?_

…

…

…

Wait a minute.

_That's it! _She reached over to her nearby nightstand and retrieved her D-Terminal. She quickly began typing up a message. Once she finished, she clicked "Send," not really caring if the person who she sent the email to was awake or not.


	3. Bedtime Bickering

**I do not own Digimon. No profit is being made from this story.  
**

* * *

Unlike Kari, who had to seriously convince her mother that she'd hurt herself being careless, Yolei had no problem telling her family about the bruise that formed on her cheek following her brawl with her former friend. All she had to do was tell them that she smacked her face into a light pole she didn't see was there until the last moment. Nobody thought much of it, since she was prone to running into things that couldn't move out of her way.

"Better hope the city doesn't call with a repair bill," Her older brother, Mantarou, quipped, earning him a well placed punch on the arm. The rest of the night went by rather quickly. The store wasn't too busy, so Yolei didn't have to do much other than clean a few things, sell some stuff, and count up her money at closing time.

Shortly afterward, she shared a pleasant phone conversation with her boyfriend. The two shared some loving words with one another. Words neither teen would probably want their parents to hear.

Yolei giggled at Ken's most recent blush-inducing comment. "You're such a tease, you know that?"

Ken smiled, though Yolei couldn't see it. "I may have heard that once or twice. So then, are you feeling better about today?"

Yolei frowned. The last thing she wanted to talk about was the brawl in the park.

"I don't want to talk about it." She hissed into her phone.

"You need to," Ken replied. "It's not good to keep your feelings bottled up. Believe me."

"Look, I appreciate you trying to make me feel better about that, but it's nothing for you to worry about."

"Bullshit." Ken surprised Yolei. He _never_ cursed. It was almost unrealistic to hear him say something like that. "Last I checked, you were my girlfriend, meaning that whatever bothers you is my problem, too."

"And last I checked, _you_ were _my_ boyfriend, meaning that when I tell you not to worry about something, I mean _don't worry about it._ I'm fine."

"I don't believe you. Otherwise, you wouldn't be trying to avoid talking about it."

She became more upset. "Don't play 'psychoanalyst' with me, Ken. I told you, I'm not in the mood to talk about what happened."

She could hear Ken release a deep sigh over the phone. A moment or two of silence passed before he spoke again.

"Alright. Just remember, I'm here whenever you're ready to talk it over."

Yolei sighed herself. Her boyfriend was too nice sometimes. Fitting, though, considering who he was. "Fine. Oop!" She held her breath, thinking she heard someone walking around. Considering that it was the dead of night, she was_ supposed _to be asleep instead of on the phone. "I've gotta go. I'm dead if someone finds out I'm up right now."

"Okay. Good night, sweetie."

Yolei rolled her eyes but smiled anyway. "Good night, Ken." With that, both teens hung up their phones. Yolei set her glasses onto her desk and slid into her bed, cradling a sleeping Poromon. Try as she might, though, the hours of the night passed with Yolei failing to fall asleep herself. Instead, images of what had happened in the park earlier that day continued to play out in her head.

She remembered rolling around on the ground with Kari, trying to rip her stupid eyes out. She remembered Kari winging her with a left, resulting in the bruise on her cheek. Her hands were once again wrapped around Kari's neck, suffocating the life out of her. She couldn't squeeze hard enough, in her opinion. _I knew I should've used those grip-strength thingies Mantarou has in this room._ She remembered saying the one thing in her life she probably regretted. Kari's darkened facial expression flashed into her head. Her fist was mere millimeters from her face as Kari's hollow eyes pierced a hole into Yolei's head. Yolei shuddered. The sense of dread she felt in the park washed over her again just thinking about Kari's killer looks.

_Ugh, _she thought to herself. _That bitch is gonna keep me awake all night. I need a snack_.

As carefully as she possibly could, she slipped out of her bed and stalked down to the store. Once she collected some cookies, milk, snack cakes and sodas (all on her tab, of course), she made her way back to her room. She had hoped not to wake anybody up with her snack raid. Her hopes were dashed when she found said Poromon wide awake on her bed staring her down with an angry glare.

"Uh...hi?" She said. Poromon continued to glare. "I...didn't wake you up, did I?"

"No," he huffed. "But your D-Terminal did. And I was having such a nice dream, too..."

"I'm sorry. I didn't even know it was still on." She sat down next to Poromon, flipping open the mini-computer on her desk. A small envelope icon flashed on her screen. "Huh. I got an email. At...?" She looked at her D-Terminal's clock. "2:00 AM? Who would be up at this hour?"

Poromon simply looked at her.

"Oh, right." Yolei sweatdropped. "Oh well. Let's see what it says." She clicked on the icon, opening the email.

_'Hey, eggplant. You awake?'_

Yolei seethed on the inside. _Oh, _hell_ no. She did NOT just call me an "eggplant"._ She typed up a response and shot it back.

_'Go to sleep, bitch. It's past your beddy-bye time.'_

Moments later, her D-Terminal beeped with a new email.

_'Shut the hell up. We need to settle what happened this afternoon.'_

Yolei smirked. Her message got to Kari.

_'Why? Didn't get your ass kicked hard enough? Or maybe you were hoping I could choke you some more?'_

Another beep.

_'Kiss my ass. As far as I see it, we're 2-0 against you.'_

Yolei looked at Poromon (who had stuffed a cookie into his mouth) with a confused expression. "What does she mean by '2-0'? And 'we'?"

Poromon swallowed the cookie. "Who are you talking to?"

"Kari. We got into a fight earlier and now she's claiming she's beaten me twice."

"What were you fighting about?"

"Later, Poromon. I'm trying to figure out what she's talking about."

"Maybe you should ask her."

"Uh..." Yolei sweatdropped. The idea hadn't occurred to her.

_'"We?" "2-0?" Since when did losing count as winning twice?'_

Another beep.

'_No, I won. You just think you did because Ken pulled you off of me.'_

_'Right, because choking someone doesn't count as a win.'_

_'You gave up when I punched that tree. It wasn't over until then.' _Yolei frowned. _That's stretching things a bit.  
_

_'Maybe, but doesn't count twice just because you said so.'  
_

_'I wasn't just talking about you and me.'_

Now Yolei was _really_ confused. Who else could she be talking about?

_'Then who?'  
_

_'Ken.'_

_'Come again?'_

_'Haven't yet._' Yolei blanched. That _wasn't _what she meant. _'Ken lost a fight to T.K. a few years ago. Remember?'_

"Ken lost a fight...?" Yolei asked herself.

"Oh yes." Poromon answered. "Back when we spent a week in the Digital World hunting for him. When T.K. and Cody broke into his old base, T.K. confronted him about using Devimon. The two traded words before T.K. threw a right hook that caught Ken both flush on the cheek and off-guard. They fought for a few minutes, with T.K. winning in the end. That was about when Ken released Kimeramon. Cody joined us after that, and you know the rest."

"Huh. Ken never told me about that. How do you know?"

"Patamon told me about it. He said he and Wormmon had an intense staring contest while the two fought each other."

"Pfft," Yolei rolled her eyes. "Sounds about right." She typed up her response to Kari's email.

_'Oh, that? Ken wasn't ready. He'd have beaten your little boy-toy senseless if he was.'_

Yolei smirked. She knew that would get to Kari. She opened the bag of chips she'd "purchased" earlier and popped a few into her mouth.

"Is that what your argument was about? Because Ken lost a fight to T.K.?" Poromon asked. Yolei swallowed her food before answering him.

"No. Something else." Her D-Terminal beeped again. She opened the new email.

_'Bullshit. T.K. charged Ken. Ken had plenty of time to react. We're 2-0 against you two. Want a chance to even it up?'_

Yolei raised an eyebrow. When was this girl going to make any sense? Maybe the late-night hours were getting to her.

_'Explain yourself, Pink Ranger.'_

Another couple of cookies and a swig of milk later, a new email came in.

_'Sure things, Tinky Winky.'_ Yolei felt a tick pop up on her forehead. '_It's simple. Ken gets a second shot at T.K. The winner proves which one of us is the better team.'  
_

Another eyebrow went up. This time, in intrigue.

_'Your boy-toy against my favorite martial artist? T.K. doesn't stand a chance.'_

_'First off, call him that again and I'll rip your eyes out and shove them down your throat. Second off, that Judo experience didn't seem to help the first time around.'_

Yolei could almost feel the arrogance oozing out of her pores.

_'Oh, that's not the only thing he's got going for him now. He's added a black belt in karate too. He's nothing like he was back then. He'd rip T.K. a new one.'_

_'So then, is that a "yes?"'_

Curiosity slowly took a firm grip on Yolei. She couldn't imagine Ken and T.K. fighting it out over their girlfriends._  
_

_'Details first.'_

'_Have you ever watched a cage fight?'_

Yolei smirked. She liked where this was going._  
_


	4. Roadside Recollections

**To say that I own Digimon would either be the owners fulfilling a pipe-dream, or a lie on the level of Mark McGwire in front of Congress about steroids. Disclaimer in the first chapters as well as on my profile stands. Just to be safe, the large italicized sections are flashbacks.  
**

Two days later, a young man with a signature bucket-hat stood outside of a gym. His usual green-and-yellow sweatshirt had been abandoned in favor of a simple white muscle-shirt, while his usual green shorts remained. T.K. stared at the gym's name for quite some time: 'Happy Muscle Gymnasium'.

_Who comes up with these names?_ He thought to himself. He had to fight the urge to bring his palm to his face over the idiocy of his current situation. Whatever happened to peaceful negotiations? Didn't the United Nations do that kind of thing with countries that hated each other all the time? Then again, not even the UN could do anything to settle the 'feud' between Kari and Yolei. He sighed in frustration before looking at the watch on his wrist.

_9:30 AM...Why the hell am I here again?_ He didn't have time to think of an answer before a voice called out to him.

"Hey T.K.!" Ken jogged up to him. Like T.K., gone were his gray school jacket and pants. In their place were a gray muscle-shirt of his own with matching shorts. ("Gee, nice color combo. Good to see you've got some originality." Yolei had sneered when she saw his outfit.) "Sorry I'm late. I had a little trouble finding this place."

"No worries," said T.K. "I kinda wish I'd never found it."

"'Kinda'?"

T.K. rolled his eyes. "Okay, so I wish this place never existed. I wish I knew how to operate a crane so I could destroy it with a wrecking ball just so we didn't have to go through this crap."

Ken held his hands up. "Okay, okay. I get it. I'd rather not be here, either. This isn't really my kind of thing."

"It's not mine, either. I mean, who names a place 'Happy Muscle' anyway?"

"Someone who either watches too much anime or reads too much fanfiction."

Both teens turned to look at the readers.

"So then," Ken asked, suddenly remembering about the fourth wall. "How did we get roped into this again?"

"Well," T.K. crossed his arms. "I don't know about you, but I learned about this when..."

_

* * *

The day after Kari exchanged insulting emails with Yolei, Kari called T.K. and invited him over to her home. Tai and their mother were out for the day, which would leave the two alone for the day. T.K. eagerly rushed over to the Kamiya residence, hoping to have a peaceful day with his girlfriend. Once at their front door, he knocked twice._

_No answer._

_T.K. hiked an eyebrow up. _She said she'd be here, didn't she?_ He knocked again._

_Still no answer. He smirked. _So that's how she's going to be, huh? _He cleared his throat before knocking again. This time, however, he pounded his fist against the door._

"_Tokyo Police!" He called out, doing his best to force his voice as deep as possible. "Kari Kamiya, come out with your hands up! We've got a warrant for your arrest!"_

_The door flew open. Kari stepped out, wrists together in front of her and a wide smile on her face._

"_I surrender!" She said dramatically. "Please, officer, take me!"_

_T.K. chuckled. "You're supposed to say, 'take me _away.'"

"_Or am I?" Kari asked, wiggling her eyebrows T.K. laughed again before pulling her in for a brief kiss._

"_So, what are we doing today?"_

"_Well," Kari answered as she slipped on her shoes. "I figured we could go to the mall for a while. I could use some new outfits, and your wallet could stand to lose a little weight."_

"_My wallet has your credit card in it, you know."_

"_Yep. And if my bill is any bigger than it should be, I'm harvesting your organs to pay for it."_

"_Sure you are. You ready to go?"_

"_Hang on." Kari stepped back into the apartment for a moment. "T.K. and I are going out for a while." She called out._

"_Okay!" Gatomon answered from another room. "Have fun!"_

"_We will!" Kari exited her apartment again, locking the door behind her. "Okay. Let's go."_

_The two spent their day at the local mall, shopping for various sets of clothes for the both of them. Kari led the two throughout the trip, with T.K. close behind. An almost comical set of bags hung off T.K.'s arms as the two entered a hat shop._

"_Hey, this one's cute." Kari said, holding up a bucket-hat. T.K. rolled his eyes._

"_That looks like every other hat I've got."_

"_Yeah," Kari mused. "But it could replace your Tuesday hat. God knows you need a new one, what with all the stains in it that I'm pretty sure aren't ones you could get outside your room."_

_T.K. turned beet red. "Shut up, Kari!"  
_

_Kari giggled. "Relax. I'm just kidding. Seriously, though, you need this one."_

"_Fine. But _you're _paying for it."_

"_Why?" Kari asked incredulously._

"_Because I've paid for everything that's for you. Which, by the way, is everything so far."_

"_Jerk." She huffed._

"_Crybaby." He puffed._

_Kari stepped in and planted a quick kiss on T.K.'s lips, blowing the "tension" down. "I'm hungry. Let's pay for this and go get something to eat." She said before going up to the cashier._

_Once the shopping was done, they made their way to a food court. T.K. got his lunch from a pizza shop while Kari got what she called a "more sensible meal."_

_T.K. rolled his eyes. "Right, because Chinese is much better for you than pizza."  
_

"_It is!" Kari responded, holding a pair of chopsticks. "It's much more fulfilling than pizza."_

"_In more ways than one."_

"_Oh don't you dare try to say that I'm fat."_

"_I'm not. But Chinese food will sure help you get there."_

_"Shut up."_

_The teens ate their lunches in relative peace. Both were content to simply sit there with one another on a seemingly perfect day. Time seemed to pass rather slowly before the silence between the two was broken._

"_You know," Kari said. "You could stand to beef up a bit."_

_T.K. nearly spit out the soda he was drinking from when Kari said that. He opted to keep his mouth shut, which resulted in him choking for a moment. Kari watched unfazed while her boyfriend recovered from his moment of misery._

"_What exactly is that supposed to mean?" He asked once he was able._

"_I got you a gym membership."_

"_Why would you do that? I don't need to visit a gym, I don't think."_

"_Well, you're pretty strong, but I see guys all the time that could beat you up. I'm just a little worried that someone might try to make a move on me and you won't be able to fight them off if you need to."_

"_Guys like who?" T.K. asked. Realization set in at that moment. "Guys like, I dunno, Ken?"_

_Kari feigned shock. "No! What would make you think that?"_

_T.K. dropped his head into his hands. He rubbed his forehead fiercely for a moment._

"_I thought we were going to talk things out."_

_"Yolei and I kinda did."_

_"When?"_

"_Late last night. We emailed each other."_

"_And you came to the conclusion that me beating Ken up would solve things?"_

"_...maybe."_

_T.K.'s face found his hands again. "Dear God..."_

"_It's not that big of a deal, T.K." Kari said. She pulled a business card from her pocket and set it in front of T.K. "Starting tomorrow, just go to this gym for the next few weeks and everything will be just fine."_

"_I'm not going to a gym so I can get into a fight, Kari."_

"_Look, Takeru," Kari growled. T.K. gulped. It was never a good thing when she used his full name. "I've already paid for your membership. A membership that, might I mention, was very expensive and non-refundable. I'm not seeing that money again unless I see it on you, and I'll be damned if I don't see it. You're going to that gym and that's final."_

_T.K. brought his hand up to his face once more. "Fine. But I'm not fighting anybody. Got it?"_

"_Alright." Kari answered, her fingers crossed underneath their table._

* * *

"Nice," Ken said. "You were having a nice date when she dropped the bad news?"

T.K. sighed. "Yep. The rest of the day was rather awkward. I mean, how often does your girlfriend tell you that she wants you to have a fight with a friend of yours?"

"Happened twice in one day," Ken sighed himself.

"So how did Yolei get you in on this?"

"Well..."

_

* * *

Yolei made her way to Ken's house in Tamachi. She had heard through the Silk Thread that Ken's mother and father would be away for the next few days. This was the perfect opportunity to get some work done, in her opinion. Once she found her boyfriend's apartment, she knocked on the door._

"_Who is it?" A small-ish voice could barely be heard._

"_It's me, Minomon. Let me in."_

"_But I'm Minomon." The voice answered, a slight chuckle behind it. Yolei rolled her eyes._

"_Come on, Minomon! I'm here to visit Ken!"_

"_Okay. Let me get him." Moments later, the door slowly opened._

"_Hey, Yolei." Ken said. Only his head could be seen, as he hid himself behind the door._

"_Hey, Ken. Can I come in?"_

"_Uh...yeah." Ken answered. Yolei shoved her way into the door before Ken had a chance to tell her to wait a minute. Turning around, Yolei saw why Ken was hiding behind the door._

"_Yum." Yolei said as she slowly licked her lips at the sight of a shirtless Ken. Ken fought off the urges to both blush and roll his eyes._

"_I'll be right back," he said quickly as he tried to retreat to his room. Unfortunately for him, Yolei cut him off. She shoved him against a wall and crashed her lips against his. Minomon slinked into Ken's room to give the teens some privacy. Yolei ran her hands over her boyfriend's torso, her fingers lingering on his stomach._

"_Nice," she said as they parted. "Could be better, though."_

_Ken frowned. "And what's that supposed to mean?"_

"_That you could have a bit more muscle on you. I like a guy with muscle, you know."_

"_Right, because my martial arts experience never impressed you before."_

"_It has and does, but you don't look like you could beat the crap out of people. I want people to know that my man knows how to beat people up and can do it too."_

"_Why would people need to know that I can fight?" Ken asked._

"_So that they know not to mess with us." Moments of silence passed. Ken slowly pieced together what Yolei was saying._

"_You want people to know not to mess with us...? People like, I don't know, T.K. and Kari, maybe?"_

"_...maybe."_

"_Oh for the love of God." Ken turned around and slowly thumped his head into the wall repeatedly._

"_Look, it's not that bad. I even got you a gym membership!" She proclaimed, pulling a card from her pocked and stuffing it into his hand. Ken lifted his hand to read the card. "You start tomorrow."_

"_I'm not doing this." Ken defiantly stated._

"_Yes you are." Yolei growled._

"_No, I'm not."_

"_Yes, you are!"_

"_No, I'm not!"_

* * *

"And here you are." T.K. mused. "At least I didn't have a makeout session ruined by this."

"Shut up." Both teens turned toward the gym's front doors. "Well...now what?"

T.K. crossed his arms behind his head. "I don't know about you, but I'm getting out of here. There's no way I'm going in there to work out to get into a pointless fight."

Ken nodded. "Same here."

They each took a deep breath before walking toward the gym's sliding doors.

"So, T.K., " Ken said. "Why are we walking into this place?"

T.K. mulled over it for a couple moments before answering. "Because we're whipped."

Ken chuckled. "Sounds about right."

**

* * *

Review response: **Kari fighting? I don't think it's too big of a stretch. Just look at the times when Angewomon fought Ladydevimon. Both she and Angewomon clearly hated Ladydevimon for no real reason other than she was a bitch. I betcha that if Kari had the chance, she'd have thrown down in those fights too.


	5. Agonized Appearance

**Disclaimer in profile. Digimon and comical human abuse appear in this chapter.**

* * *

Four hours later, the citizens of Tokyo watched with puzzled looks on their faces as a teenage boy dragged himself along the concrete sidewalk. Entire luggage sets hung underneath his eyes, as his back hunched to the point where his knuckles nearly dragged along the ground. His breathing labored with every step, punctuating the exhaustion he felt with every pained step.

"Just...a few...more feet..." he panted to himself. He tried to will himself to the apartment of the nearest friend. He wasn't sure he could make it to his friend's home, and he was positive there was no way he could make it to his own.

Before he knew it, he stood near his destination; the bottom of the apartment complex he was stalking to.

_Just an elevator ride up 6 floors,_ he thought. _Then, about 30 feet to salvation..._

As he thought, the remainder of the trip was relatively easy compared to getting to the damned complex to begin with. Where did people learn to walk, anyway? You'd think they know to _avoid _the guy dragging himself along the street, looking as if he were doing a character study for the next rendition of _The Hunchback of Notre Dame._ Someone even asked him how much he had to drink!

_What the hell was that about, anyway?_ He asked himself while riding the elevator up. _I don't even _look_ like an alcoholic. It's like a guy can't be tired when he's walking down the street._

A bell in the elevator dinged, indicating that it had reached its destination. The doors flew open, and he once again slowly stalked his way toward his own final destination. He also hoped that Death wasn't interested in him just yet.

_Let's see...601...602...603...604...605!_

Once he found the apartment in question, he slowly turned to face it. He raised an exhausted arm and weakly knocked on the door. He hoped that the powers that be would be kind to him and that somebody was home and had sharp hearing.

Unfortunately for him, I'm not in the most merciful mood.

Nobody answered. There wasn't even a sign that someone was home. He groaned in frustration, cursing the powers that be and raising his arm again. He knocked again, this time a little harder, hoping to create a bit more noise. Again, no response. Feeling too tired to try knocking again, he settled for what he considered the next best option. He drove his forehead into the door over and over. After what seemed like an eternity of pounding, he was mercifully met with one of the people he was hoping to meet.

"Hey, T.K." Tai said after opening the front door.

"Hey, Tai..." T.K. answered tiredly.

Tai took in the appearance of his younger friend. "What happened to you...?"

"Long day. Mind if I crash here for a while?"

"Uh...sure." Tai answered uneasily.

"Thanks..." T.K. groaned before falling forward.

"Holy crap!" Tai cried out as he awkwardly caught T.K. Kari, having heard her brother's outburst, emerged from her room.

"What's going on T-oh my God!" She cried upon seeing her collapsed boyfriend and her brother struggling to keep him up. "What happened?"

"How should I know?" Tai struggled. "Just get over here and help me!"

Kari ran over to help heft T.K. Together, they managed to drag the teen onto their couch. While Tai was in a corner complaining about a strained back, Gatomon left Kari's room and joined her human partner in poking T.K.'s passed out cheeks.

"He looks like he got some bad cuts of sushi," Gatomon mused as a claw gently grazed T.K.'s skin.

"I think he's just tired." Kari answered. "He _did _have a rough day today. At least, that's what I was promised over the phone."

"Forget about him!" Tai screeched. "My back's been ruined for life!"

A tick grew on Kari's forehead. "Gatomon..."

The cat-like Digimon nodded. "On it." She said as she went to work. Kari continued to poke away at T.K.'s cheek while a cry of "_Lightning Paw_!" and a yelp of pain could be heard in the background. T.K. eventually groaned, rolling over in a mixture of pain and annoyance.

"You know..." he strained. "It's hard to get some sleep if someone's constantly jabbing you with their appendages."

Kari smiled. "Morning, sleepyhead."

"Shut up."

She carefully found a spot on the couch and sat down. "So how was it?"

T.K. groaned again. "Horrible. My trainer was an absolute Drill Sargent. 500 push-ups...500 sit-ups...weight training...hours of pain..." Kari giggled as T.K. related his agony. T.K. raised a sore eyebrow. "Something funny...?"

"You, silly." She said, jabbing her finger into his cheek again. "You act like you've never had a workout before."

"Yeah, but those were for basketball. Why would I need to lift weights for an hour?"

"He made you do that?"

He nodded. "Yeah. It sucked big time. Thankfully, I don't have to go back for a while. Maybe I can work out some of this soreness..."

Gatomon rejoined the teens at the couch, purring in delight as Tai lay crumpled in a corner.

"I'm done." She said.

Kari looked over at her brother, his charred body twitching. "You didn't kill him, did you?" She asked her digital companion. Gatomon's tail swayed slightly.

"Might have." She mused. "He stopped crying a long time ago."

"I'm not cleaning him up."

"Anyway," T.K. interrupted. "Do you think I could stay here tonight? I don't think I'm going to make it home, and mom probably won't be in the mood to haul my ass back."

Tai instantly jumped up at the question. He darted to the back of the couch with a dark look on his face.

"Hell no," he said. "There is no way you and my sister are staying in the same house at night." He crossed his arms in an 'X' in front of him. "No way!"

Kari rolled her eyes. "I'll ask mom when she gets home." She heard the front door open. "Oh, speak of the devil."

"I'm a devil?" Yuuko asked as she stepped through the door.

"Mom, can T.K. stay here for the night?" Kari asked in excitement. "He's too tired to go himself, and his mom's too busy to get him."

"He can't!" Tai screeched. "There's no room for him to stay anywhere!"

"He can stay in my room." Kari countered. "I'll just leave the door open so that you don't think we're up to anything."

"I don't see a problem with it." Yuuko said, much to Tai's dismay. "I'll just call his mother and make sure it's okay."

"Yay!"

Tai could be heard slamming his head against the nearest wall after hearing his mother betray him.

"Although, I'm not sure T.K. staying in Kari's room would be the best idea. He should probably stay in Tai's room for the night."

"It's okay..." T.K. called out from the couch. "I'm fine here. I just need a blanket and some heat packs."

"You're lucky you get to stay here at all," Tai growled as he tossed a spare blanket onto the blonde teen. "Just don't get any ideas."

T.K. rolled his eyes, thankful that they were the only parts of his body that weren't in pain. "Let me know when you get over yourself. I'm too sore to bother moving from this spot."

Kari, Gatomon and Yuuko both stood around the phone. Kari and Gatomon listened as Yuuko explained the situation to T.K.'s mother, Natsuko.

"...and that's what happened." Yuuko finished. She nodded several times in response to Natsuko's unheard questions. "Uh-huh...uh-huh...of course. Alright, then. Goodbye." She set the phone back in its place.

"So, what'd she say?" Kari asked.

"It's fine with her." Yuuko said simply as she walked into the restroom. A moment later, she emerged with a towel in hand.

"Uh...mom? What's with the towel?"

"It's for me." T.K. called out. "I have a problem with overnight bladder control."

Tai snickered. Kari and Gatomon both sweated profusely over T.K.'s apparent confession. Yuuko stifled a laugh of her own as she entered the apartment's kitchen and started filling the sink with warm water.

"That's not exactly it." Yuuko explained under a chuckle. "This is for the soreness. Hopefully, it'll relax his muscles a little." She dipped the towel in the water, letting it soak up the heat and moisture.

"I can't believe you people bought that." T.K. mused. "Maybe I should be a used car salesman."

"You can't," Kari giggled. "You're the Digidestined of Hope. You can't do anything as remotely evil as being a used care salesman."

"She has a point, T.K." Yuuko joined in, walking over to the couch with the towel. "I find it hard to even imagine you robbing a bank, let alone running a sleazy business like that. Now then, lay on your stomach and take your shirt off."

"WHAT THE HELL?" Tai screamed. "It's not bad enough that you've got my little sister falling for you, now you've managed to seduce my mother?"

Everyone other than Gatomon ignored him. Another "_Lightning Paw!_" could be heard while T.K. slowly did as he was told. Yuuko folded up the towel and gently set it on his back. T.K. sighed as the heat soothed his aching back.

"Now then," Yuuko said, looking at a nearby clock. "I've got a long day tomorrow, so I'm off to bed. Try not to make too much noise." With that, she retreated into her bedroom for the night.

"Sounds like a good idea," Tai painfully said. "I'm off too. Try not to jump on each other."

Gatomon menacingly lifted a gloved paw. Panicking at the sight, Tai retreated to his room, where Agumon peacefully slept through the whole ordeal.

Kari knelt down by the couch by T.K. "Are you going to be okay here?" She asked.

"I'll be fine." He said, smiling. "You should get to bed. It's probably late."

"Okay then." Kari leaned in and placed a small kiss on his forehead. "Goodnight, T.K." She said before ushering herself and Gatomon back to her room.

_What a day._ T.K. thought to himself. _A hellish workout to start and a stay with a crazy family as a finish. At least I got a nice, warm towel to make me a bit more comfortable. Hopefully, Tai will be a little more himself tomorrow. It'll make Kari's job of teasing him a little easier._

With a small smirk on his face, T.K. let the warmth from the towel ease him into a peaceful slumber.

* * *

**Holy mother of chocolate was this chapter hard. Many ideas were scrapped, and an entire week of inspiration was lost in forming something that I'm happy with. Hopefully, I'll get the next chapter out sooner than next century.**


	6. Riled Rocket

**Disclaimer in profile. Say that three times fast. Now punch yourself for being so gullible.**

While one teenager was seeking rest and relaxation from his agony with his favorite person, another slowly walked to his own destination. This young man wasn't nearly as worn out as his friend, but the grueling workout did wear on him.

_This is a level of soreness I should've expected, but somehow didn't, _he thought to himself during his slow walk. _At least my previous training helped me out. _He stopped mid-stride to take a deep breath and release a sigh.

"What a wonderful way to spend a weekend..." He said to nobody in particular. He slightly shivered at the statement he hadn't said in years.

People who passed by him gaped in awe. It was odd that the fabled genius of Tamachi was walking down the street in the evening light. Couple that with the fact that he was still wearing the clothes he had before his workout, but with significantly more sweat on the shirt, and it was a moment in time that warranted many a camera's flash and a fangirl's swoon.

_If only Yolei were here_, he again thought as he fought against a mob of admirers. _She'd get rid of these people quickly._

A local news crew shooting an unrelated story in a nearby store caught on to the group surrounding the iconic young man. Abandoning their original story, they saw it as the perfect opportunity to pad their resumes a bit and chased after the loving mob.

_This is fine kettle of fish,_ he thought. _What do I do now?_

He nimbly dodged the lips of a lovestruck admirer, thankful for his many years of soccer practice.

_Wait. Soccer. That's it!_

Ken waited for the perfect opportunity to come to him. This wasn't something you rushed until you absolutely needed to.

The news reporter stepped in front of Ken, blocking his path and allowing him to be glomped repeatedly.

"Ken Ichijouji," she started, intending to get an impromptu interview. "Would you mind explaining why you decided to go for a stroll here?"

"It isn't a stroll," he strained through the pile of bodies burying him. "I'm trying to get to a friend's house."

"So, is this friend someone who you're close to? Or could this be a secret lover?"

Ken rolled his eyes as he managed to wriggle his way out from underneath the mass of flesh.

"Quite frankly," he answered with a tone of irritation, "My relationship status with the friend I intend to visit at this time is a matter of privacy and is something that nether you nor anyone else should find relevant to any sort of discussion. In other words, BACK OFF!"

Despite his statement, however, the reporter quickly jotted down Ken's reply, hoping to get something to edit for an interview teaser.

"So," she asked. "Is this close friend of yours a lady? Or..." she raised her eyebrows in amusement. "A male?"

"I don't appreciate the insinuation that I might have any sort of homosexual tendencies." Ken answered, clearly irate. "I don't have a problem with anyone who leads such a lifestyle, but I kindly ask that you refrain from making any statements that might have a negative impact on me or my family in any direct or indirect manner."

Jotting his words down, the reporter decided to ask the one question she might have come to regret later on.

"In that case, Ichijouji, would you mind giving us his name?" She asked with a smirk.

Before Ken could unleash the biggest verbal lashing he'd ever issued, another starry-eyed fangirl approached with a soda can in her hand.

"OH MY GAWD!" She screamed. "YOU'RE THE HAWT GENIOUS!" She jumped up and down where she stood, forgetting about the drink in her hand. Just as she went for her obligatory glomp, the mindless fan turned her hand just enough for the can to empty its contents down the back of said genious.

The sharp cold feeling from the soft drink hitting his back snapped Ken straight, eyes wide in surprise. Moments passed in sheer silence as the crowd of onlookers waited to see what his reaction to being soaked in liquid sugar would be.

Ken took a moment to adjust to the cold from the soda on his back, noting how uncomfortable it made his sore back feel. He slumped over, allowing his navy bangs to cover his eyes. Several members of the crowd could swear that a dark aura surrounded him.

"Uh...Kenny...?" The girl who'd gotten him wet nervously said, noting something that looked like a change in attitude. Ken picked his head up at the sound of a pet name, revealing a terrifying glare that only a privileged few could remember him having on a consistent basis.

"Listen, you ignorant little wretch," he growled. "You will step back. You will apologize for ruining a gift from a close friend. And you _will_ swear that you will _never_ even _consider_ approaching me for _any_ reason ever again. Have I made myself clear?"

The girl visibly shook, terrified. "Y-y-yes sir." She took a couple steps back and bowed deeply. "I'm sorry, Kenny. I'll never talk to you again."

"Good." Ken said. "And refrain from ever addressing me in such a familiar manner again."

The girl vigorously nodded before running off in sheer fright. Ken then turned his attention to the news crew that was shooting the whole encounter.

"This entire travesty," His growl continued. "From start to finish, is _never_ to be aired in any way, shape or form. If I so much as see myself in _any_ broadcast, not only will I personally see to it that your station is shut down, but every single employee will also be faced with personal lawsuits for harassment and invasion of privacy. Understood?"

The cameraman immediately threw his camera to the ground, destroying everything that had been recorded. Madam reporter proceeded to tear her notes into small, unrecoverable pieces.

"Travesty?" She asked in nervousness. "What travesty? Nothing happened here. I apologize for the intrusion, Ichijouji-san." The pair bowed momentarily before scurrying off.

In one final sweep, Ken turned to address the rest of the crowd. "As for the rest of you, if you don't get out of my sight immediately, I'll see to it personally that charges of harassment are pressed against each and every single one of you."

Moments passed as terrified citizen filed away, hoping to forget about the taste of "the Rocket's" wrath and move on with their lives. Once he was sufficiently alone, Ken released the breath he hadn't realized he was holding. He then suddenly brought his hand up to his mouth as a gag reflex shot through his system. He ducked away into the nearest alley and retched.

_Dear God,_ he weakly thought as he finished. _Why did I do that?_ Wiping his mouth and spitting out the last bits of acid in his mouth, he started his journey once again, a sense of regret washing over him. He wished he'd relied on his soccer experience rather than of his caped experience.

_I hadn't done that in so long...I wish I'd forgotten how._

Before he knew it, he stood in front of a familiar store. He pushed his way through the front door, ringing the small bell attached to it.

"Hello!" The young man behind the counter called out. He noticed who it was that entered the store. "Oh, hey Ken."

"Hello, Mantarou." Ken replied. "Is Yolei home?"

"Yeah. She's up in her room." Picking up a set of keys, Yolei's older brother moved to a door in the back of the store. He unlocked and opened it, revealing a set of stairs.

"It's alright if I go up, right?" Ken asked.

"No, I just opened the door to taunt you." Mantarou answered, rolling his eyes. "Just be careful. She's playing video games."

Ken raised an eyebrow. "Why should I be careful about that?"

"_No More Heroes._" Mantarou said simply.

"Ah. I'll watch out for flailing limbs, then." Ken started up the stairs that led to the Inoue residence. "Thanks."

A couple flights of stairs took him up to the third floor. Once he found the door he was looking for, he lifted his hand to knock on the door. Just before his knuckles, made contact, however, a blood-curdling scream blared from the apartment.

"GRAAAARGH!"

Ken sweatdropped. _I guess she's not having a good time._ He knocked on the door lightly. Shuffling feet could be heard coming from the other side of the door. Said door was yanked open, revealing an irate mass of lavender.

"WHAT DO YOU WANT?" Yolei screamed.

Ken lifted a hand. "Hello."

"Oh, hey Ken." Yolei rubbed the back of her head. "I didn't know it was you."

"Of course not. You didn't bother to look out your peephole."

"Oh shut up." She stepped to the side. "Stop standing around and get in here."

Ken rolled his eyes, but stepped in anyway. Yolei slammed the door shut, grabbed Ken's arm and dragged him into her room. Ken wondered when it happened, but Yolei began developing a fondness for anime and video games. Figurines of all kinds lined her furniture, while manga accompanied her textbooks and technical manuals on her bookshelves. Posters of various games and anime lined her walls while piles of DVDs sat stacked in various places in her room.

"Now then," she said, pointing to her TV. "Kick her ass!"

Ken looked to see the game he was warned about paused on Yolei's TV. He looked back at Yolei and raised an eyebrow.

"Who's ass do you want me to kick, exactly?"

Yolei pointed at her TV again. "Bad Girl," she said. "She's a bitch and a half and I can't beat her no matter what I do."

Ken chuckled. "Fine." He picked up the necessary equipment and, five minutes later, beamed as he did what his girlfriend had deemed the impossible.

"I don't get it," Yolei said. "How is it that I can't do anything to beat her, yet when you play, you tear her apart?"

"I'm just that good."

"Oh shut up. Now hand me that stuff. I've just gotta save and-" Yolei was cut off by Ken turning off the Wii. "NOOOOO! WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT?"

"Because you should learn to win for yourself."

"Jerk."

"Otaku."

"Shut up." Yolei sat on her bed and patted a spot next to her. "Now come sit down."

Ken did as he was told, enjoying the feeling of his girlfriend draping her arms around his neck.

"So, how was the workout?" Yolei asked as she gently dragged a fingertip down Ken's arm.

"It went better for me than it did for T.K." He mused. "He could barely walk when we were done."

Yolei rolled her eyes. "Thank you for that, Ken. I needed a reminder that I deal with too many bitches in my life."

Ken sighed. "You're still bickering with Kari?"

"Nope. Not talking to her until this whole thing is over."

"You know, you're going to ruin your friendship with her over something stupid."

"I can afford that. It's her fault for starting this whole thing in the first place."

Ken rubbed a hand through his hair. "This isn't going to work out well."

"Oh well. We'll get over it." Yolei slid her arm down his back and took note of a particularly large spot on his shirt. "What happened here?"

Ken groaned. "Some idiot accidentally spilled her drink on me trying to glomp me."

A tick grew on Yolei's forehead. "So, what did you do about it?"

A chill ran down Ken's back at the memory of the event that occurred not too long ago. "I glared." He said.

Yolei gaped. His answer was simple, but the impact his words had carried a great effect. She wrapped her arms around his chest in a motherly embrace. "Are you alright?"

"I scared a lot of random people, a news crew trying to interview me, and myself."

Yolei tightened her hug. "That doesn't answer my question."

"Well," Ken thought aloud. "I could be worse."

"And how's that?"

Instead of answering, Ken stood up and walked to the center of Yolei's room. Yolei watched in curiosity and confusion as Ken looked around her room for something suitable for his purpose.

"That'll work." He said as he eyed a poster. He walked up to it, clearing his throat. He stared at the poster for a few moments, creating an air of tension that nearly sucked Yolei in whole. At long last, even though it was only a minute or two, Ken took a deep breath and brought his hands up to the poster. He gently placed his hands on the poster in what Yolei thought was a loving fashion. He turned his head to look at his girlfriend with the most lustful smile and the dreamiest eyes he could muster. A single word escaped his lips.

"Moe~..."

Yolei erupted into the biggest fit of laughter she'd ever had.

"What the hell was that?" She managed to wrangle out between laughs.

Ken smiled, embarrassed at his own reference. "I thought you might like it."

Yolei wiped away the tears that had formed because of her intense laughter. "Okay...okay..." She panted. "So, how are you _really_ feeling?"

Ken shrugged. "Fine, actually. I ended up heaving afterward and didn't dwell on it too much."

"As long as you're alright, and you didn't threaten physical violence."

Another shrug. "Just some lawsuits."

Yolei stood up and walked to her closet. "Alright then." She opened the doors and began digging around. "You need to get cleaned up and brush your teeth." She handed him a set of clothes.

Ken nodded. "Okay then. I'll try not to take too long."

"That's alright. Take your time." She said, a smile on her face. Ken left her room, making his way toward the bathroom.

_Why do I have such a wonderful girlfriend?_ He asked himself as he entered the bathroom. _And more importantly, why do I care? I'm lucky enough as it is. I'm not going to bother questioning it._

Nearly a half hour later, Ken emerged from the bathroom feeling refreshed. He questioned the outfit Yolei gave him. He wasn't expecting a set of pajamas his size. He knocked on Yolei's bedroom door.

"Yolei," he called. "I'm done." Her door opened as Yolei exited.

"Okay. I'm going to go get cleaned up, myself." She said as she stepped out. "Oh, I took the liberty of calling your folks. You can stay here for the night if you want."

Ken nodded. "Thanks." He entered Yolei's room as she entered the restroom. While he waited for Yolei to finish, he scanned her library, noting the various titles that ranged from gushy romance to intensely violent thrillers. He lost track of time as he eyed the figures on her desk. Ken jumped slightly as Yolei entered her room with her own set of pajamas on.

"I don't know about you," she yawned. "But I'm ready for bed."

"Yeah. I'm pretty tired myself."

The teens stood in an awkward silence for a few moments, neither one making a move for the lone bed in her room. Ken eventually broke the silence.

"I'll go stay on the couch." He said as he started toward the door. Yolei stopped him and shoved him onto the bed.

"You'll do no such thing. You're staying here as long as you can behave yourself." She said with a smirk on her face.

Ken smiled. "Do I have to?"

"Yes."

Ken adjusted himself in the bed. He slid as close to the edge as he could so that Yolei could lay down with her back to him. He wrapped an arm around her waist and buried his face into the crook of her neck.

"Goodnight, Ken." Yolei said dreamily. Ken tightened his embrace slightly and offered his reply.

"Moe~..."

Yolei laughed again as the teens settled into a peaceful slumber with one another.

* * *

**Moe~**

**I loved that moment in _N.M.H. _and decided to work it in here. I like how it turned out.**

**Oh, and for a bit of extra fun, look up episodes of _Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?_ Watch the second round of any episode, then imagine Rockapella announcing my chapter titles the way they do in that second round. That's how I come up with them. Fun.  
**


	7. Wild Wakeups

**You know the drill. I'll introduce the hammer and screwdriver in the next chapter if they find the time in their busy schedules to RSVP. Jerks...**

Most people who fall asleep with their girlfriend expect to wake up to a beautiful sight in the morning.

Most people expect to wake up with a familiar shade of hair color as the first thing they see.

Most people expect to wake up to the wondrously familiar scent of the one they care about the most.

They do not expect to wake up to muffled laughter.

They do not expect to have to search around for said wonderful girlfriend.

And they most certainly do NOT expect to wake up to a shout of "FIRE!" followed by freezing streams of liquid straight to the face.

Most people are not Ken Ichijouji.

Said teen prodigy thrashed around in his girlfriend's bed in a flurry of confusion and anger as Yolei and her brothers drenched the poor teen with high-powered water guns.

"WOULD YOU KNOCK THAT OFF?" Ken screamed as he hefted a blanket over himself as a makeshift shield.

Despite his protests, he remained under fire. Yolei's insane cackling could be clearly heard above her brothers. After a few more seconds of intense drenching, she held her hand up as a signal to said siblings.

"Alright, guys." She said. "I think he might be awake by now."

The guns stopped firing, allowing Ken to drop the soaked blanket to the bed. He eyed the four incredulously, shivering slightly from the cold shower.

"Woman," he growled. "Why the _blue hell_ would you do something like that?"

"Well," Yolei answered unfazed. She held up a hand to count off her reasons. "First, we needed to test out the water guns. They're brand new and needed to try them out on something. Second, I thought you might appreciate the shower. You're welcome, by the way." Ken growled again. "And thirdly, I thought we could go out this morning."

Ken's eyes narrowed slightly. "So you're telling me I'm a dirty target that was forcibly awakened at...what time is it anyway?"

"6:30 AM."

Ken froze for a moment. "I'm going back to sleep." He said as he dropped his face into his water-logged pillow.

Yolei ushered her brothers out of the room, citing the need to "let her man have his way for now." Once they were gone, Ken attempted to fall asleep again. He would've succeeded if it weren't for the fact that a set of probing fingers ran their way through his hair.

"Ken..." Yolei cooed, making an effort not to touch her new waterbed. "Wake up. Please?"

"No." Ken said through the pillow. "Let me sleep."

"Tonight, when you go to bed for the night."

"I promise you, if you don't let me sleep, you _will_ regret it."

"Oh really?" Yolei challenged, continuing to feel up Ken's hair. "And how do you plan to make me regret it?"

Ken suddenly grabbed Yolei's wrist, catching the lavender-haired girl by surprise. He then yanked her toward him, which forced her to fall onto the bed. Yolei shrieked at the feeling of wet sheets soaking her pajamas. Her situation wasn't made much better when her once-evil boyfriend began quickly running his fingertips along her abdomen, forcing the hardest fit of laughter he could get out of her.

"ST-ST-OP IT!" She screamed through her laughs.

"Nope," Ken said as he smiled wickedly. He continued his tickle attack, not allowing Yolei a chance to breathe.

"I'M GONNA WET MYSELF!" Yolei screamed again. Ken ceased his torture so that Yolei could both catch her much needed breath and to maintain her bladder control.

"You can't," he answered. "You're already wet."

"And what...exactly...is that supposed to mean?" Yolei asked between pants.

"Your pajamas are soaked because you're laying on a bed you and your brothers soaked with water guns in an attempt to wake me up rather unceremoniously."

Yolei rolled her eyes. "You're not good with innuendos, are you?"

"I never was good with foreign languages." Ken joked. He leaned over to catch her lips in a quick kiss.

"So then, why do you want me up so early?"

"I told you. I want to go out this morning."

"Where?"

"For a run. You're supposed to stay in shape, you know."

Ken looked confused. "Why do you want to go running?"

"You're not listening, Ken." Yolei chided. "You..." She was cut off by a finger Ken placed on her lips.

"I asked why _you_ want to go running. I don't mind a going for a jog, but I don't see why you'd want to go."

Yolei raised an eyebrow. "Is there a problem with me wanting to join my awesome boyfriend for a morning run?"

"No, but..."

"Then that settles it. Get up." She commanded, climbing off of her bed. "We need to get dressed and I need to get this stuff into the washer."

Ken rolled off the bed after her. "What am I supposed to wear? I don't have any clean running clothes."

Yolei walked over to her closet and threw the doors open. "Don't worry. I've got some clothes here you can wear." She shuffled through the items in her closet as she searched for some clothes.

"Here we go!" She exclaimed upon finding her bounty. Whirling around, she held out the clothes she'd found for Ken to see. Ken paled at the sight. In a horrible mash of colors that looked like someone failed a tie-dye class, Yolei held a pair of biking shorts Ken was sure would _never_ fit on him and the smallest muscle shirt he'd ever seen.

"Two words, Yolei." Ken said plainly. "Hell. No."

Yolei frowned. "Why not?"

"Because it looks like a unicorn threw up on a set of kid's clothes and convinced you to hide it in your closet. I'm not wearing that."

"Fine," Yolei huffed. She turned back to her closet and dug through it again. Finding another set of clothes, she turned and unceremoniously threw them at Ken. "Wear those."

Ken examined the stuff closely. A gray muscle shirt and gray (proper size, mind you) shorts. He smiled.

"You have no appreciation for color, you know that?" Yolei asked as she pulled out a set of clothes for herself.

"I know. You wanna go first, or should I?"

Yolei raised her eyebrows. "Why not both?" She asked with a lustful grin.

"Because your parents wouldn't approve and your brother would throw me out the window after stabbing me repeatedly and pouring salt all over my body."

"Fine. Ladies first." With that, Yolei left her room and made her way toward the bathroom. Ken smiled to himself as he dropped down to sit on the floor.

_I've got an insane girlfriend_, he thought to himself. _And I'm lucky to have her._

An hour later, both teens found themselves outside of convenience store at the bottom of the apartment complex, engaged in various stretching activities.

"So," Ken said mid-stretch. "Think you can keep up with me?"

"As I recall, you have a hard time keeping up with _me_."

"I meant running."

"Oh. Sure."

"Alright then." Ken said before darting off, leaving a shocked Yolei behind. "See you later!" He shouted behind him in amusement.

"GET BACK HERE, JACKASS!" She screamed as she ran after him.

* * *

A distinctly annoying buzzing sound permeated the silence that once filled the room of the Digdestined of Light. Kari tiredly groped around, searching for the offending piece of furniture that disturbed her wondrous night of sleep. Once she found the alarm clock in question, she proceeded to, in no graceful manner, yank the clock off of her and heave it to the opposite end of the room. The clock made contact with the wall, shattering from the force in which it was thrown. Gatomon, who always shared the bed with her human partner, groaned from the noise created.

"I'm not cleaning that up," she said.

Kari groaned herself. "Convince Tai to do it."

"And how am I supposed to do that?"

"Get creative." Kari attempted to go back to sleep, but something made it difficult to do so.

Something heavy.

And warm.

And whatever it was, it was making her neck feel all tingly.

She buried her face in her pillow and groaned again, as whatever was attacking her neck was doing a _very_ good job of making her feel good. She had a good guess as to what it was. Or rather, who.

"T.K..." she said, though muffled by the pillow.

"Yes?" her attacker said.

"Stop it. I'm trying to go to sleep."

"If that were the case," T.K. mused. "You wouldn't have set your alarm clock to wake you, and by extension the rest of the house, up at 6:30 in the morning."

Kari rolled over to face her boyfriend. "Shut up."

T.K. only grinned before his lips assaulted her neck again.

"Seriously, T.K.," Kari strained under the treatment. "You've got to stop..."

"Why?" He asked as his voice lowered to a husky tone.

"Will a frying pan over the head be convincing enough?" A third voice interjected. The two teens looked to find Tai standing in the doorway with said frying pan in hand and the most evil look on his face. Kari and T.K. turned red as smoke began billowing out of Tai's ears.

"Morning, Tai." T.K. said, a sheepish grin on his face.

"Get. Off. My. Sister." Tai growled.

"Fine." T.K. climbed off the bed. "But once Kari steps out that front door, she'll be in my evil clutches." With that, T.K. began the best evil laugh he could muster. Tai slowly raised the pan, intending to bash his sister's boyfriend in the head.

"I'm gonna kill you!"

He never got the chance to swing. Instead, a ball of white fur with yellow gloves leaped from Kari's bed to a shout of "SHUT UP!" Gatomon landed squarely on Tai's face and began scratching away at his face. In response, Tai screamed in pain and stumbled backwards. Kari and T.K. watched in amusement as Tai disappeared from the doorway, cringing when a high-pitched "Hey!" and a huge thud sounded from the living room.

"Poor Agumon," Kari mused. "Having to put up with Tai."

"Anyway, why did you have your alarm clock set to wake you up this early?"

Kari slid out of bed, dragging herself over to her closet. "Well, I thought we could go out for the day."

T.K. smiled. "Really? That'd be nice."

"Good." She dug through her closet in search of the proper attire. "Because I plan on going to a place I like to consider nice."

"Which would be...?"

"A park."

"Nice indeed."

Kari pulled out a pair of outfits that caused T.K. to raise an eyebrow. Not in a way he preferred, though.

"You plan on going out in an outfit meant for visiting a gym?"

"Yep. And you're going to get dressed like this too."

"Why?"

"We're running there."

T.K. could feel his face fall hard. "I was hoping to take today off. Since, you know, today's my day off."

"Nope. I'm going to make sure you're not slacking off in your workouts, and that means that I'm going to be holding your hand whenever I get the chance."

"I can't exercise every day, you know. It's not healthy and I'd be risking injury."

Kari rolled her eyes. "I know that. That's why we're just running today. You can take the day after tomorrow off." With that, she tossed an outfit to T.K. "Now go get dressed." T.K. groaned as he dragged himself to the bathroom.

An hour later, Yuuko and Tai watched on the sidewalk in front of the apartment complex that the Kamiya family resided as Kari and T.K did some warm up stretches.

"You _will_ be careful, right?" Yuuko nervously asked. She wasn't too thrilled about her daughter running about the city, even if her boyfriend was going with her.

"Of course, Mom." Kari said as she bounced up and down on the balls of her feet. "I'm going to be perfectly careful. T.K's going because he needs a good run and to make sure, for your sanity, that I don't do anything stupid."

"Hey," T.K. said as he thumbed toward a solid colored van with the word "CANDY" scrawled on the side. "Go for it. Looks legit."

"Hmm..." Kari looked as if she were seriously mulling over the notion. Yuuko nearly fainted, causing Kari and T.K. chuckled.

"Don't do that to me!" She cried out at the two teens.

"Sorry, Mrs. Kamiya." T.K. said. "I couldn't help it."

Yuuko pinched the bridge of her nose, wondering if it was a good idea to let her daughter roam around Tokyo. "Just...be careful."

"We will." Kari chirped. She turned to her boyfriend. "You ready?"

"Sure. Let's go." With that, T.K. ran off, leaving Kari behind.

"Hey!" She shouted, running after him. "Bye Mom!"

Tai and Yuuko watched as the two teens ran off. Yuuko smiled slightly as she started making her way back the apartment. Tai followed, face scrunched in thought.

"Should I follow them?" He asked in all seriousness.

"No. They'll be fine."

"Something feels off, though. I'd better make sure."

"What's this?" Yuuko feigned shock. "You're worried about Kari _and _T.K.?"

"Yeah, it happens." Tai stuck out his tongue. "I'm going to borrow the car. I'll be back later."

"Fine, but I know nothing about this."

Tai nodded as Yuuko handed him a set of car keys. As he made his way toward the family car, Tai pulled out his D-Terminal to type up an email.

'_Hey. I need you to come out with me.'_

He sent off the email and climbed into the car. He had just enough time to slide the key into the ignition before his D-Terminal beeped, signaling an incoming message.

'_Dude. First, I'm straight. Second, there are better ways to ask someone out on a date. You should know this, man. You taught ME that.'_

Tai rolled his eyes as he came up with his response.

'_I need you to help me follow Kari and T.K. I'm worried something might happen._'

Tai started the car, making his way toward the restaurant where he knew his contact would be working. A new email came in.

'_You know where to find me.'_

Minutes later, Tai pulled up to the fast food restaurant in question. Davis Motomiya walked out of the restaurant's front door and up to the car. Tai rolled down the window to let Davis talk to him.

"Dude," he said as he leaned into the window. "It's Kari and T.K. How bad do you think things could get? If you're worried about the two hooking up..."

"It's not that." Tai interrupted. "They went out on a run a few minutes ago. I get the feeling something bad might happen."

Davis sighed, considering his options. A moment later, he came to a decision.

"I'll go see if I can take today off." He said as he walked back into the restaurant. Tai waited patiently as minutes passed. Before too long, Davis made his way out of the restaurant and climbed into the passenger seat.

"Whenever you're ready." Davis said as he buckled in. "Do you know where they're going?"

Tai nodded as he pressed his foot down on the gas pedal, causing the car to lurch forward. Both young men secretly hoped Tai's gut instincts were wrong for once.


	8. Early Exertion

**This chapter's short, but it's a filler chapter that'll set up the next one. This chapter, as well as the next, will also be key in explaining the sheer scale this story will be undertaking.**

* * *

Tai and Davis slowly rode through the streets of Tokyo. The former's eyes scanned both sides of the street, looking for his younger sibling and her boyfriend, while the latter hung almost uninterestedly out of the passenger window.

"Davis, you're supposed to be looking for Kari and T.K." Tai urged.

"Well," Davis countered. "It'd be nice if I knew where to look. You said you knew where they were going."

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean I know how they're going to get there."

"You didn't bother to ask? What kind of big brother are you, anyway?"

Tai's hands tightened their hold on the steering wheel. "You do not want to get me started on sibling-hood right now, Davis."

"Yeah, whatever."

"Do I need to bring up Jun?"

Davis shot Tai an angry glare. "Look, I told you it wasn't my fault!"

Tai sighed. "I know. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said anything."

"No kidding you shouldn't have! Thank you for bringing up my dead sister, Tai."

"I said I was sorry!"

Both young men sighed. Tears formed in Davis' eyes.

"I should've taken her home that night..."

"Davis, now's not the time."

Davis wiped the tears from his eyes. "I know. I'm sorry." He narrowed his eyes, noticing a pair of teens jogging down the sidewalk on his side. "Is that them?" He asked as he pointed them out. Tai looked to the pair Davis pointed out.

"Yeah, that's them. Don't lose sight of them, Davis." Tai then eased on the brake, slowing the car down.

"Wait, why're you slowing down?"

"Because I don't want them to spot us." Davis nodded in understanding. He lost sight of his sister and paid the price for it. He wasn't going to cost someone else, let alone his friend, their family member as well. Not if he had anything to say about it.

* * *

Kari and T.K. continued their jog, unaware of the compact car that was tailing them.

"So," T.K. huffed between steps. "What are we going to do once we get to the park?"

Kari panted slightly as she ran. "I don't know. I didn't think you'd agree to let me run with you."

"And you worry that _I_ don't plan things out ahead of time."

"Quiet you."

The two continued their run, attempting to avoid a crowd of pedestrians on their way to the park in question. Neither teen said a word between them for several yards, both content to simply enjoy each other's company.

Well, mostly content.

"I still find it ironic, Kari."

"I said 'quiet, you'."

* * *

Yolei eventually caught up with Ken as the two made their way through a crowded sidewalk. Ken nimbly darted around the passerby.

"Ken!" Yolei cried out behind him, struggling to push her way through the citizens of Tokyo. "I can't keep up!"

Ken snapped his head around to see how far behind his girlfriend had fallen. He jogged back to help her out.

"Here," he said, pointing out to the street. "Run along the sidewalk."

"And get hit by cars? No thanks."

"I'll run with you. You won't get hit, I promise."

"Alright then. You're on the outside, though." Ken chuckled as he rolled his eyes.

"Fine, but I'm on top next time."

"Deal. Now let's go. I wanna get to the park sometime today." With that, Yolei took off, leaving Ken behind.

_Now _this_ is how you spend a weekend,_ Ken thought to himself as he followed his girlfriend.

* * *

Tai creeped his car along, despite the numerous horns being bleated behind him.

"I thought you didn't want to draw attention, Tai." Davis said.

"I don't."

"Well, I think that cars honking at us might draw a look or two."

"Do you still see them?"

Davis squinted, trying to keep the teens in question in his sight. They turned, escaping his vision. "No, but I saw them turn a couple streets ahead."

"Keep an eye out for them." Tai said as he sped up. The horns behind him began to die down now that the other motorists settled down. Tai turned the car down the road Davis had pointed out, hoping that they hadn't lost too much ground.

* * *

The park wasn't too far from the Kamiya residence, making it a rather short jog for the Digidestined of Hope and Light. Once on the sidewalk that surrounded it, both teens stopped to catch their breaths.

"How far was that, anyway?" T.K. asked as he dropped down, taking his weight off his legs. Kari followed suit.

"I think it was around a mile, give or take a few yards for cars and other stuff."

Neither took notice of the fact that the car that had been following them for the last mile or so parked itself a block away.

"Well, we're here. What now?"

Kari stood up. "We could do a little more running in the park. Once we're, say, in the middle we can figure out what to do next."

"Sounds good to me." T.K. rose to his own feet. "Although, I feel kinda weak. I think you'll have to carry me..." He slowly collapsed onto his girlfriend, earning a yelp of surprise as she strained under his weight.

"T.K.! Get off me! You weight a ton!"

T.K. frowned as he buried his face in her shoulder. "Do not." He said indignantly as he stood up straight.

"T.K., have you tried holding yourself up lately?"

T.K. looked at Kari oddly.

"Bad question. Come on, let's go."

T.K. nodded as the two began their trek into the park.

* * *

Inside the car, Tai killed the engine and unbuckled his seat belt. Davis looked confused.

"Dude, why are we getting out?" He asked as he undid his own seat belt.

"Because we can't follow them in a car. Let's go before we lose them." Before Davis could respond, Tai had exited the car and ran after his sister. Davis got out himself, locking the doors behind him before attempting to follow his friend.

_I hope this doesn't turn out as bad as I think it will._

* * *

Ken and Yolei found themselves outside the park that served as their destination. Upon reaching the bordering sidewalk, Yolei collapsed onto the concrete and proceeded to cough up a lung. Ken stopped beside her and knelt over next to her.

"Are you alright?" He asked as he gently patted her on the back.

Yolei's coughing slowed, allowing her to speak when she had the chance.

"Yeah...just*cough*a little*hack*cough."

Ken helped his lavender-haired love to her feet when her coughing eventually ended.

"We should go home, Yolei. You're not quite used to running this far."

"I chased you around a digital dimension, didn't I?"

Ken stiffened slightly before responding. "Yeah, but you technically didn't do much running. It was mostly flying and teleporting around." His eyes narrowed slightly, wishing she hadn't brought up those days.

Yolei noticed his change in attitude. "Oh, no. I just put my foot in my mouth, didn't I?"

"You might start choking again."

Yolei darted in and kissed her boyfriend briefly. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean that."

Ken softened. "Yes you did. I'll let this one go, since it wasn't an insult." He embraced Yolei for a few moments, ignoring the glances the pair were getting from passerby.

"Alright," Yolei said. "Let's get going. I wanna go a little further before we turn around."

"You sure?" Yolei simply nodded. "Okay then."

With that, the couple continued into the park, unaware of who had entered the opposite side of the park.


	9. Daybreak Disaster

**Another short chapter here, but I feel that it's necessary in order to create the kinds of moods I want this story to carry through itself.  
**

* * *

Davis panted as he caught up to Tai. The guy ran as hard as he could after his friend, almost losing him among the trees at the edge the park.

The few trees.

The few, spaced out trees.

"Dude," He gasped as he stopped. "Don't run off like that. I can't keep up when you take off like that all of a sudden."

Tai looked at Davis with a raised eyebrow. "Didn't you play soccer during high school?"

"I haven't played ever since my knee was ruined in that one game."

"Davis, you scraped your knee on a loose rock. It wasn't that bad."

Davis rolled his eyes. "Not that game."

"I know, now shut up and help me find my sister." Tai looked around. All kinds of people ran around in play. Couples dotted the landscape, some with picnic baskets feeding each other lovingly, while others felt the need to forget that they were in public and prove their love for one another in ways that could only be described as making out against trees.

None of them interested Tai. None of them were the particular couple he was searching for.

"Davis, look around. Try to find them."

Davis scanned the area. "Are you kidding me? How're we supposed to find _anybody_ with all of these people around?"

Tai slowly turned to look at Davis, who hadn't noticed the glare his friend was shooting him.

"I mean, it's like trying to find a needle in a hay-hey!" He pointed out a jogging couple in the distance. One had gray clothes and familiar blue hair, while the other was in a mess of lavender hair and flailing limbs.

"Ken and Yolei! Maybe they've seen Kari and T.K."

Tai's eyes widened. "I hope not. Otherwise, they're in serious trouble."

Davis eyes his friend questioningly. "Why?"

Tai didn't answer. Instead, he ran toward Ken and Yolei without warning. "Dude..." Davis whined as he followed behind.

* * *

Ken continued to jog just fine. Years of soccer, Judo and karate helped increase his physical stamina. Yolei dragged herself along. Years of sitting behind computers, writing computer programs and dreaming about living in a high-tech society did nothing to help her stamina. Which is why she felt slightly insulted by the fact that Ken was _currently leaving her behind._

"Ken!" She shouted, ignoring the upset looks she drew from families and couples trying to enjoy a peaceful day. "Get back here, you jerk!"

Said genius stopped to turn and see Yolei hunched over in agony. He walked up to her as she wheezed heavily.

"Having an asthma attack?" He asked, half a smile on his face. Yolei, however, was less than amused.

"Remember how we agreed that you'd be on top next time?"

"Yeah..." Ken wasn't sure he liked where this was going.

"Deal's off."

His eyes bugged. "Yolei! That's not fair!"

"Neither is watching you take off without me." She huffed indignantly.

"You were the one who wanted to keep going, you know. I offered to take you back home."

Yolei waved her hand. "Yeah, yeah. I know, I know." She coughed hard, nearly choking on her saliva. Ken patted her on the back to help her clear her airway. Yolei raised her hand as she finished, signaling to her boyfriend to stop.

"I'm okay," she said. "I'll be fine."

"Do you want to go home now?" Yolei shook her head.

"No. Let's get to the middle of the park first, just to say we got there. Then we'll head back." Without giving Ken a chance to answer, Yolei ran toward the center of the park. Ken could only sigh and follow after her, hoping she wasn't pushing herself too hard.

* * *

As one gets closer to the center of the park, one would notice that the number of trees increased, minimizing visibility and making a jog harder to maintain.

Kari and T.K. pushed their way through the miniature forest in an effort to reach the middle. Kari brushed a branch out of her way, only to have it whack T.K. in the face when she released it.

"Dammit." T.K. growled as he cupped his cheek. It felt like the branch scraped his sensitive skin.

"Quit crying, T.K." Kari said as she rolled her eyes. "It's not that much farther now."

"I know, but-" Another branch smacked him in the face. "Ow! I hate these trees."

"You know, a real man doesn't have a problem with nature."

"I don't. Nature just seems to have a problem with me."

Kari rolled her eyes again as she continued her way to the center. "It isn't that-ack!"

* * *

Yolei hurried her way through the trees. She desperately wanted to get to the park center.

_I can get there,_ she thought to herself. _I know I can. _She, unfortunately, didn't pay as much mind to the terrain as she probably should have.

Ken followed as closely behind her as he could. He lost ground as he exercised more caution than his overzealous girlfriend.

"Yolei!" He called after her. "Slow down!"

"I can't!" She called back. Ken rolled his eyes.

"Of course you can. You're just choosing not to."

"No! I really can't!" She screamed. "I'm going downhill!" Ken's eyes widened. That wasn't a situation he could find a positive outcome to.

"Hang on!" He called, picking up speed behind her. "I'm coming!" He found the same downhill slope Yolei had stumbled down and continued his pursuit. He only hoped that...

"Yahh!"

...something wouldn't happen.

* * *

Tai and Davis made their way through the dense trees. How the hell did the city pull off having a mini forest here, anyway?

"Are you sure they're headed over here?" Davis asked, hoping he wouldn't run into any poison ivy.

"I think so." Tai said, brushing some plants out of his way.

"You think?"

"Yeah. My superior 'Tai' senses are pointing this way."

Davis rolled his eyes. "Aren't those the same senses that digivolved Greymon to Skull-"

"Jun." Tai cut Davis off. Davis delivered as hard of a punch as he could muster to Tai's arm.

"Jackass."

"Bitch." Tai returned the favor in kind, but certainly not kindly. The two commenced to having a small fist-fight between the two of them. Punches flew back and forth between the teen and young adult, guaranteeing the formation of bruises along their chests and arms. Davis threw a stray right hook, catching Tai in the jaw. The Digidestined of Courage reeled back, holding his jaw. Davis stopped his attacks with wide eyes.

"Dude, are you alright?"

Tai flexed his jaw a bit and spit out a touch of blood. "You hit me in the mouth!" He cried.

"I know!" Davis cried as well, flailing his arms about. "I'm sorry!"

"That's very un-bro, Davis! We agreed, no shots to the face!"

"I know!"

"Ack!"

"Yahh!"

Both men turned their heads to the direction the voices came from. They then turned to one another and spoke at once.

"Kari! Yolei!"

* * *

**Change of plans. Next chapter is going to determine just how big this story is going to truly be.**


	10. Crowded Confession

**This is where the sheer scope of the story comes into play. This is going to be key in the climactic moments of the tale.**

* * *

It took seven seconds from the first step down the Slope of Fate for two young teenage women to collide in an undignified mess of limbs.

It took four seconds afterward for three teenagers and one young man to find the mess all had sought.

It took one second afterward for three of the four males to forcibly hold back nosebleeds. The fourth merely glared at the other three. ("That's my sister, jackasses!")

Yolei, who had landed on top despite her momentum, slowly peeled herself off of the older girl.

"Oooh...I'm so sorry." She said as she rubbed her now-aching head with her eyes closed. "I couldn't stop myself."

Kari didn't answer. She sat up just as slowly, also rubbing her throbbing head. She, unlike the younger teen, had her eyes open as she rubbed, and her face flip-flopped between an angry glare and a pained cringe.

"I am so totally sorry..." Yolei continued before opening her eyes to see who her inadvertent victim was. She formed a less-than-amused expression of her own. "And I immediately retract my previous statements."

"What are you doing here?" Kari asked, her head hurting less. "Come to ruin our time together, have you?"

Yolei rolled her eyes. "Yeah, because my bitch-senses were tingling and drew me here. I know I'm good, but I'm not psychic."

Ken slinked up behind Yolei and set his hands on her shoulders. "That's enough, Yolei."

Kari brought a sarcastic finger to her lips in mock thought. "Bitch senses? How do you pick out other people from yourself?"

T.K. slipped beside Kari and gently wrapped a hand around her arm. "Stop it, Kari."

Both girls slipped out of their respective partner's grips and stood up, glares still at full force.

"So Kari," Yolei said. "What's it like to be in a lesbian relationship?"

T.K. did a double take as Kari's eyes flared. "I wouldn't know. I suppose it's better than having a two-men together, though."

Ken nearly fell over as Yolei balled up a fist. "You take that back!"

"Hell no! You take back what you said about T.K.!"

"Bite me, Pink Ranger!"

"That's it!" Kari lunged forward with a raised fist. Yolei followed her lead and charged toward Kari. Tai quickly darted in and grabbed his sister by the waist, yanking her back. Davis mirrored his older friend in order to hold Yolei back.

"Kari!" Tai yelled, hoping to get his sister's attention. "Knock it off before you hurt someone!" Kari glared at her brother before dropping her head silently.

"You too, Yolei!" Davis screeched as Yolei continued to thrash. "You're gonna get someone killed!"

Yolei glared at Davis. Davis returned the glare, hoping he could show that he was serious. Yolei settled down, crossing her arms in frustration. "Fine. I wouldn't want that whore's blood on my hands anyway."

"YOU BITCH!" Kari screamed, lunging forward again. Tai struggled to hold his sister back, forcing T.K. to step in and assist. "I'll kill you!"

"Try it, bitch! See if I don't rip your eyes out!"

"Shut up, Yolei!" T.K. screamed. Ken flared up in his own fit of anger.

"HEY!" He snapped, stomping toward the other three. He shoved T.K. from behind, forcing the other teen to stumble around Kari. "You watch what you say to Yolei!"

T.K. stopped himself from falling over and whipped around to face Ken. "What the hell is your problem?"

"My problem, " Ken said, still upset. "is _your_ inability to keep your girl under control!"

T.K. shoved Ken back. "Do NOT talk about Kari like she's an animal!"

Ken adopted an eerily familiar sneer. "Perhaps I wouldn't if you were able to tame and maintain her attitude."

"Maybe you oughta put a muzzle on Yolei! Maybe _then_ she'd shut up for once!"

"Now why would I do that when clearly Kari has been acting like the bitch this whole time?"

"That's it!" T.K. charged Ken, fist raised. Ken took a step back and raised his own fists. Tai jumped in front of T.K. before the two could collide.

"Cut it out, T.K.!" Tai screamed as he struggled to hold T.K. back.

Kari pulled at T.K.'s waist. "Stop it!"

Ken began slowly striding in T.K.'s direction. Before he could get too close, Davis and Yolei took up positions similar to their counterparts.

Davis shouted at Ken. "Dude! Don't make things worse!"

"Yeah, Ken!" Yolei shouted. "Save it for the cage!"

It took one second for a plan to be inadvertently revealed.

It took one second afterward for all of the members of the play to cease their movements.

It took another second for one lavender-haired teen to realize why four of the other five were staring at her with raised eyebrows while the fifth struggled to keep herself from bringing her face to her palm.

Yolei snapped her hands to her mouth. "Oops..."

Ken turned to completely face his girlfriend. "Yolei...what are you talking about?"

T.K. looked at Kari. "Yeah, Kari. What'd she mean when she said 'cage'?"

Tai and Davis stepped back, noting the confused looks between the two couples and deciding that they were out of place a bit.

"Uh..."Kari poked her fingers against one another. "It might have something to do with the fight Yolei and I planned..."

T.K. crossed his arms. "Try that again. This time, make some sense."

"That fight Yolei and I talked about...we were going to lock you two in a cage."

Ken's eyes bugged at Kari's words. "What? You can't be serious!"

T.K. rolled his eyes. "She's not. This is some kind of pathetic joke to try and keep us from beating each other up."

Yolei started to scratch the back of her head. "No...uh...no. She's not. We were getting you guys ready for a cage fight."

Three more pairs of eyes bugged as another set went wider. Moments of silence passed as information sank in.

"Uh...guys?" Davis eventually broke the silence. "Someone want to clue in the clueless, here?"

Yolei rolled her eyes. "It'd take forever to clue you in to anything, Davis."

"Screw you, too."

Kari stepped forward before another melee could break out. "Uh, Davis, it's like this. Yolei and I got into a fight a couple of days ago. I reminded Ken and Yolei about T.K. beating Ken up in the Digital World a few years ago..." Ken winced slightly at the memory. "And offered them a chance at evening things up."

"We got Ken and T.K. to start working out," Yolei stepped in. "in order to get them ready for a cage match that they had no idea about."

Kari rolled her eyes. "Until you opened your fat mouth."

Yolei sneered at Kari. "My ass, Pink Ranger. Kiss it."

"How about I kick it instead?" Kari stomped forward. T.K. and Tai stopped her again.

"Look," T.K. said, his mini-spat with Ken forgotten. "We need to talk about this."

"Agreed." Tai nodded.

T.K. turned to face Tai with an unamused look on his face. "_Alone._"

"Why? She's my sister, you know."

"Yeah, but she didn't get you into a fight with a friend of yours, did she?"

"Well, no..."

Kari rolled her eyes. "I'd appreciate it if you two didn't talk about me like I'm not right in front of you."

Both men rubbed the backs of their heads. "Sorry."

Ken brought his hand up to his forehead and began rubbing. He was hoping to get rid of the headache he could feel coming on.

"They're right, Yolei." He said, cringing in anticipatory pain. "We need to have a serious discussion about what you and Kari have gotten us into and why I'm going to need several bottles of headache medicine before the day is done."

Davis nodded. "Yeah. This is some seriously heavy stuff."

Ken glared at Davis. "Not you."

"Why not?"

"Because your mouth is even bigger than mine!" Yolei cried out, giving Kari a reason to sneer for once.

"So you finally admit it. You've got a megaphone for a mouth." Five sets of eyes rolled at Kari's current inability to resist her urge.

"Yeah, yeah. If I've got a megaphone, then Davis has a disaster siren."

"Hey!"

Ken placed a friendly hand on Davis' shoulder. "Sorry, Davis, but this is something that Yolei and I need to work out on our own. I'll tell you how things worked out later on, if Yolei doesn't mind."

Davis nodded while his expression changed to that of a concerned friend. "Alright. If you're absolutely sure about this."

"I'm sure. Everything will, hopefully, be just fine." Ken turned to face Yolei. "We should get going. We have plenty to talk about, I'm sure."

Yolei nodded wordlessly. She didn't feel like trying to argue about anything in public, despite the last ten minutes or so what passed in the middle of the city.

"We should go too, Kari." T.K. said, ready to leave. Kari silently agreed. Both couples began making their way out of the mini forest. Before either got too far. T.K. turned around.

"Ken!" He called out, catching the genius' attention.

"Yeah?" T.K. approached him and held his hand out.

"I'm sorry about what I said. I was a little too deep in the moment to think about what I was saying."

Ken took his friend's hand and smiled. "Don't worry about it. We were all a little too caught up. I'm sorry for shoving you."

"It's cool."

Both teens released each other's hands before turning to both Tai and Davis, who had been standing silently.

"You two are not to say a thing, understood?" Ken warned.

"Nobody else needs to know about what's going on and what's not going to happen between us."

Tai raised his hands defensively. "Relax. I'm not going to tell anybody."

Davis grinned. "Ditto." Both T.K. and Ken eyed Davis warily for a moment before leaving to join their girlfriends. As soon as the two were out of sight, Davis took his D-Terminal out of his pocket and began typing up an email.

"What exactly do you thing you're doing?" Tai asked as he looked at his close friend incredulously.

"Well, I gotta tell _someone_, about this, don't I?"

Tai rolled his eyes. "That's very un-bro."

"I'll get over it." Davis replied as he sent off his email. "Now I just have to hope that this doesn't blow up in my face."

"It will. Just like the cake you made for Sora's birthday. She's still pissed off about that, by the way."

"Dude, I told you and I told her that was _intentional_!"

"Davis, you ran around apologizing to Sora at the top of your lungs."

"Because she wouldn't stop chasing me!"

"Whatever. Just don't be surprised when this whole thing goes 'kerblam' all over your face." Tai started navigating his way back to his family's car. Davis followed, hoping Tai would be wrong about his decision**.**

**

* * *

**

**Who could Davis have emailed, and what kind of implications will the message hold for the four Digidestined? Find out when I get around to more of _Round Two_!**

**...and I'm done trying to sound like an episode narrator. But seriously. If you can figure out who Davis contacted, you just might be able to figure out how far I'm going to take this story.  
**


	11. Amusing Aftermath

Kari and T.K. slowly walked out of the park, silence working as the only contributor to the conversation. Neither one even looked at one another as they walked down the street that would lead back to the Kamiya residence. T.K. casually crossed his arms behind his head while Kari nervously crossed hers in front of herself. Minutes of silent sidewalk travel passed before either teen made a sound. T.K. exhaled a deep sigh.

Kari took that as a sign of T.K.'s frustration and started crying. "I'msorryTKyouweren'tsupposedtofindoutlikethat..." She stopped speaking when T.K. grabbed her shoulders suddenly.

"Kari! Breathe!"

Kari ignored his command and continued to cry. "I'm...*sob*...sorry..." Her crying intensified.

"Kari!" T.K. shook the bawling girl slightly, oblivious to the looks the pair were getting from random passerby.

"DON'T LEAVE ME!"

"Hikari!"

She stopped crying as hard, seeing the concerned look on her boyfriend's face. Her crying continued to slow until slight sobs were all that were escaping from her mouth. T.K. closed his eyes as Kari calmed herself.

"Now then," he said. "Take a breath." T.K. inhaled deeply, held it for a moment, and released it. He noticed that Kari hadn't done the same. He furrowed his brows a bit.

"See, you're supposed to do that, too." He chided. "Now, inhale..." Both teens did so. "...and exhale." Two breaths were released at the same time. "Okay. Now, try that again, and this time, try to make some sense."

Kari bowed her head. "I'm sorry. You weren't supposed to find out like that."

"You weren't going to tell me?"

"Not until the last minute."

"Why not?"

"Because we knew if we said anything to either of you about what we were getting you into, you wouldn't agree with it and would back out."

"So you were planning on keeping this whole 'cage fight' thing a secret from the one person in the world who might find that information a tad bit important?"

Kari slowly started crying again. "I didn't mean to lie to you."

T.K. embraced his girlfriend. "Calm down, Kari. I'm not mad at you."

She looked up at him with tears still running down her face. "You're not...?"

"No. Why would I?"

"Well, I did lie to you. I kept a secret from you, and I forced you into a fight you weren't okay with from the start. If you're going to break up with me, now would be the time to do it."

"Three strikes, huh?"

Kari nodded slowly. "I'm sorry...ow!" T.K. retracted the finger he'd flicked on Kari's forehead. She glared at him angrily, which would imply that there's some other way to glare at someone. "What was that for?"

"I was _hoping_ it'd knock some sense into you." He said, smiling. "You're going rather crazy here, you know."

"But-but-but..."

T.K. rolled his eyes. "I know yours is nice." Kari glared at him again.

"That's not funny."

"Neither is you thinking that I'm going to break up with you."

"Why not? You've got perfectly good reasons to do so."

"Not really. They're stupid reasons if you ask me. And, if you were to keep asking, thinking that I might break up with you over a stupid reason is rather ridiculous as well. If that were the case, I'd have done it when you and Yolei first beat the hell out of each other." T.K. leaned down and kissed Kari's cheeks, wiping away a few of the tears with his lips. "Now then, enough of this crying nonsense and let's get back to your place."

Kari raised an eyebrow. "Why mine?"

"Because mine is too far away for us to get there by walking and, since you had this in your closet," he pointed to his sweat-stained clothes, "I figure you might have other stuff I could wear. Unless, of course, you're some kind of stalker and only wanted to see me soaked in sweat."

Kari smiled. "A little of Column A, a little of Column B."

T.K. smiled himself. "See there? You look cute when you're smiling. Then again, you look cute when you're all pouty and puffy..."

"Oh shut up."

A goofy grin took the place of the warm smile T.K. had a moment before. "Let's just say you're cute in general and keep it simple."

Kari rolled her eyes. "Yes, just like you like it."

"As opposed to burgers, which I want as complex as possible." T.K. said as he patted his stomach. Again, Kari's eyes did their best soccer ball impressions.

"You're thinking about food again. You're hungry."

"I know." A pair of nearly inhuman growls silenced the pair. Faces raced to see who could turn red the fastest. Kari's won.

"Okay, so I'm a bit hungry too. Let's go get cleaned up and get something to eat. You can have the rest of the day off."

"How gracious of you, my lady." T.K. mock-bowed, earning him a swift smack on the head.

"Quiet, you jerk. Now let's go. I want to get rid of these sweaty clothes." Both teens smiled before capturing each other's hands and beginning their trek toward the Kamiya residence once again.

"When are you supposed to go back to the gym?" Kari asked. The question caught T.K. off guard slightly.

"Tomorrow. The trainer you hired for me said we'd be doing some strike training. I thought it was odd when he told me that. Now I know why we're doing it."

"Do you mind if I go with you to watch?"

T.K. shrugged. "No, I wouldn't mind."

Kari nodded to herself as the couple continued down the sidewalk.

"You know," T.K. said after a few moments of silence. "A thought came to mind."

"What's that?"

T.K. brought a hand up to grasp his chin in thought. "Tai and Davis were in the park with us a little while ago, weren't they?"

"Yeah."

"They couldn't have run after us since Davis' knee isn't in the best shape."

"Yeah..."

"Which means that they had to have followed us in a car."

"Yeah..."

"So why didn't we ask them for a ride back?"

Both teens stopped and turned to one another. Kari looked left to right in thought.

"Aw hell."

* * *

Meanwhile, walking in a whole different direction were two teens with completely different (and to many, unnatural) hair colors. The lavender haired teen fumed intensely while the young man with navy hair seemed lost in thought.

"Oooh, I can't _believe_ that Kari Kamiya!" Yolei screeched, more to herself than to her boyfriend. "Who does she think she is? I have half a mind to show her what I think of her!"

Ken didn't hear what Yolei was saying. He was in the process of trying to analyzing what had happened a few minutes ago. Why hadn't Yolei said anything before spilling everything all over the park floor?

"I wish I could jam a piece of my mind into her eye!"

_What does she hope to accomplish by putting me through this_? Ken asked himself. The answer wasn't clear, like most things Yolei did or said.

"Ken? Can you hear me?"

_Is there some ulterior motive behind making me and T.K. fight each other?_

"Are you listening?" Ken did something he would soon regret. He absentmindedly shook his head no. Yolei steamed before slamming her heel down on Ken's instep. Said genius yelped loudly in pain and hopped around.

"What the blue hell was that for?" He cried, holding his aching foot.

"You weren't paying attention to me!"

"I was thinking! You know I block everything out when I think!"

"You can't block me out! I'm loud!"

His foot no longer in pain, Ken settled himself down and took a deep breath. He let his mind settle down before continuing on this conversation.

"Now then, what is it you were saying?"

Yolei rolled her eyes. "I was saying that I want to beat Kari up for making me look like an idiot in front of everybody."

Ken took his turn to roll some eyes. "There are two very good points I'd like to make about your previous statement."

"What?"

"One: Everybody who? It was only Tai and Davis who saw that. And by 'only', I mean those were the only two witnesses to the whole debacle."

"It doesn't matter who or how many people were there!" Yolei flailed her arms around for emphasis. She still made me look like an idiot!"

"Which brings me to point number two: You're the one making yourself look like an idiot."

Yolei's eyes widened in shock. Did her boyfriend just call _her_ an idiot? "How dare you, Ken!"

"Pretty easily, actually." Ken grinned, knowing he'd gotten Yolei's attention. "Your rash decisions and inability to control what you say when you're emotional is what's gotten both of us into this mess to begin with."

Yolei opened her mouth to say something, only to freeze when nothing she could come up with would help her with forming an argument.

"See what I mean?" Ken asked, stepping in close quarters with Yolei. "You can't even think to make the argument that it was Kari insulting your hair color that upset you to begin with."

Yolei slowly closed her mouth. He was right; she wasn't able to properly formulate her thoughts when she was angry. Ken stepped a bit closer, staring deeply into Yolei's eyes as the distance between them diminished.

"Do you see now? Maybe if you hadn't acted so much with your emotions and thought about things a little more, we might not even be in this cluster-mess to begin with."

Yolei returned Ken's stare, thinking about his words. She finished what he had started and stepped in to capture his lips in a brief kiss.

"So," she said as she stepped back. "How long did you plan on bullshitting me, anyway?"

Ken shrugged. "Long enough to get you thinking again. Looks like it worked pretty well."

Yolei rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah. You got me. Now what were you going to do next?"

"I don't know. I didn't think I'd need another step in my nefarious plan to get you to calm yourself."

"Oh shut up. Let's get back to my house. These clothes smell awful."

"You _were_ the one who wanted to keep running. Now you have to deal with the consequences."

Yolei's eyes rolled again. "Don't I know it." She looked at the differences between the amounts of sweat on each teen's shirts. "Why aren't you as sweaty as I am?"

"Because I've been practicing martial arts for a good portion of my life as opposed to just letting my fingers dance around a keyboard."

"Oh shut up. You need to teach me some of that stuff."

"I don't think so. I'm not qualified to teach anybody anything and besides, what we learn isn't to be used as a form of intimidation. If you want to get in shape, I suggest visiting a gym. You can come with me tomorrow. I'm due in for some strike training with the guy you set me up with."

Yolei raised her eyebrows and smiled lustily. "You have no idea how delicious that sounded." Ken merely brought his hand to his face in instant regret.

"Let's...just go clean up and get something to eat." Yolei raised her eyebrows again. "I MEANT FOOD!" Yolei giggled as she wrapped one of her hands around Ken's. The two began a quiet trek to the Inoue residence intent on cleansing and nourishment.


	12. Coach Contact

The next day, T.K. stood outside the gym his girlfriend had gotten him a membership in a similar outfit to the one he'd worn two days previous. He stood next to Ken, who was also in the similar dress from the day before the day before. T.K. faced the doors leading into the workout facility while Ken kept his eyes on the two girls who'd accompanied them to the gym. Said girls glared at one another with a fierceness.

Yeah, you can't even complete the description. It was _that_ intense.

"How did we get here all of a sudden?" T.K. asked, scratching the back of his head in confusion.

"I don't know." Ken answered, wary of Kari and Yolei's hate-laced staring contest. "Time just seemed to jump."

"Yeah, that's the weird part. It seemed like that to me, too."

"Well, do you remember doing anything special yesterday?"

T.K. brought his hand up to his chin in thought. "Well..."

_

* * *

Kari and T.K. stepped out of the burger joint they'd gone to after getting cleaned up. T.K. patted his stomach in satisfaction._

"_Now those were good eats!" He exclaimed with a wide smile on his face. "The flavors...the texture...the prices!"_

_Kari rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah. You're the Guy Fieri of Japanese fast food. We get it."_

_T.K. stuck his tongue out at her. "You're just mad because I can pick out awesome food and you can't."_

_Again, Kari's eyes did their best soccer ball impression. "Whatever you say." With that, the two teens began a short walk down the street. Short because soon after they began, Kari nearly tripped over a small rock. She stumbled forward, crashing into T.K.'s unaware back. The two continued forward for a moment before T.K. finally stopped them with a hard step._

"_You okay?" He asked, turning back to see Kari tapping her foot on the ground._

"_Yeah, I just tripped over something." Kari looked back herself to see what she had tripped on. A small rock shaped like a pair of overlapping arrows slowly pulsed a soft orange glow. Kari raised an eyebrow in curiosity. "What _is_ that, anyway?" Kari walked over to the rock and bent over to pick it up._

"_Uh, Kari?" T.K. raised a hand, not so much to try and stop her, but rather to _look_ like he was. "I don't think that's a good idea..."_

_Kari ignored her boyfriend, something he had gotten rather used to, and picked up the rock. Before either teen knew it, the entire day passed by at a breakneck pace before finally stopping at the current point in time._

* * *

"...and then everything kinda tasted purple for a second." T.K. continued to muse. Ken scratched his head in confusion.

"That kinda explains why everything seemed to fly by yesterday. What do you suppose it was?"

"I don't know, but I get the feeling like that kind of thing is only possible when dimensional barriers are broken and vague references are made."

Ken continued to scratch his head. "Why do I get the feeling that this is slowly crossing into 'crack' territory?"

T.K. shrugged. "I don't know. Let's go in before the girls have a 'who-can-bleed-more' contest."

Ken nodded before the two made their way into the gym. Kari and Yolei followed behind, nether one looking away from the other. It would've been smooth, but Yolei ended up running into a section that _wasn't _a door.

"Ha!" Kari cried, pointing a finger at the fallen girl's misery. "What a stupid bit-ACK!" Kari tripped over a set a dumbbells. Yolei quickly recovered and stood over the fallen teen.

"Now who's the stupid bit-" Hands were quickly clamped over Yolei's mouth.

"Be quiet." Ken hissed into his girlfriend's ear. "You two are causing one hell of a scene."

Yolei wrenched her boyfriend's hands from around her mouth. "Fine. Let's go." With that, Yolei grabbed Ken's hand and blindly led him around the gym. Kari stood up as T.K. approached her.

"So then, are you ready to go? Or do you want to egg Yolei on some more?"

Kari brought a finger up to her chin. "Egg on Yolei sounds pretty good. Maybe it'd peel the ugly off of her."

T.K. rolled his eyes. "Give it a rest already." He turned to address Ken, who had been pulled to the opposite side of the gym. "We should get going, before our coaches decide to make our lives a living hell."

"I wouldn't worry about it." A voice said from behind. T.K. and Kari jumped slightly before turning around to see who was speaking. Kari's eyes widened and her jaw dropped slightly. A man slightly older than T.K. stood before the two. A smirk sat on his face while his chocolate brown eyes shone in amusement. His arms were crossed in front of his chest. He wore a yellow muscle shirt with a small black symbol on the front and pair of brown shorts. Messy brown hair topped off the appearance of the man Kari assumed to be her boyfriend's trainer.

"Glad to see that you're actually here." He mused. "I figured your last session would've been enough to drive you off."

"T.K..." Kari droned slightly. "Why didn't you tell me you had a god for a trainer?"

Said blond rolled his eyes. "Because he's a human, you fool."

The trainer held out a hand to Kari. "My name's Takuya. And what may I call you?"

"Single, now." She airily answered as she took the hand. A mad blush burned her face. T.K. rolled his eyes again.

"Takuya, this is Kari. She's decided to accompany me today."

"Oh, really?" He asked. "Well, maybe we could interest you in a membership?"

Kari's eyes glazed over. "Maybe if I get a few private sessions..."

"Sorry. You may have just broken up with your boyfriend, but I'm perfectly happy with my lady."

"Aw..." T.K. brought his palm up to his face in an act whose name would make this sentence redundant.

"Alright." Takuya said. "If you're ready, then let's get going. We've got a lot of work to do." With that, he led the couple to a set of stairs near the back of the gym. Ken, however, was having a difficult time trying to convince his girlfriend to let him do all the walking.

"Yolei!" He said in exasperation. "You're going to make me late, and I don't want to know what happens when I'm late."

"Oh please!" Yolei snapped, still dragging the navy-haired genius about like a fuming child with a stuffed bear. "Whoever your trainer is can't be nearly as big of a bitch as that damned Pink Ranger!"

"I certainly hope not."

Yolei stopped dead in her tracks at the new voice. Both teens turned to their side to see a young boy, just into his teens by the looks of him, sitting on an empty bench nearby. This boy wore a white T-shirt and brown shorts. His brown hair was hidden underneath a rather large, yellow hat. He brought his hand to his chin in thought.

"At least," he said. "I don't think it'd be possible for me to be a bitch, since I happen to be a guy, and all."

Yolei rolled her eyes. "Aren't you a little young to be in a gym? And do your parents know what kind of mouth you've got?"

Said "kid" looked up in mock-thought. "Not really. I'm old enough to be here. And I'm not quite sure you have a whole lot of room to talk when it comes to language. After all, you were the one who basically called someone a 'damn bitch'."

Yolei clenched a fist in anger. "Why I oughta..."

Ken placed his hand over Yolei's fist. "Settle down, Yolei." He stepped in between the two teens, though off to the side. "Yolei, this is my trainer, Tomoki. Tomoki, this is my girlfriend, Yolei."

Tomoki held up a hand in greeting. "Yo."

Yolei raised an eyebrow. "How did a kid like you get to be a trainer in a gym? Don't you have to go to classes and get certified and stuff?"

"Yeah, but that doesn't take nearly as long as people think. It helps when you're able to skip a few grades and have some personal experience."

Ken nodded. "Now then, I think we should get started with today's session."

"Yeah." Tomoki nodded in agreement. Yolei, feeling left out, nodded for no apparent reason. Tomoki stood from the bench he was sitting on. "So then, you ready?"

Ken nodded again. _I'm starting to feel like one of those bobblehead dolls_, he thought to himself. Tomoki made his way toward the same stairs the other three had taken. Up two flights of stairs resided a small, unseen barrier that separated this chapter from the next.

* * *

**Kudos to anyone who can identify the two vague references in this chapter.**


	13. Embarrassing Escapade

**Review response: No, T.K. doesn't wake up. Comedic relief chapters are good for the soul, though. And I do love me some souls...  
**

* * *

The six-person parade made their way up four sets of stairs. T.K. pondered on how intense the training session would be. He wasn't sure he wanted Kari around whenever his body felt the need to empty out his stomach's contents. Ken questioned how his previous martial arts experience could help him. He could use some Judo for throws and chops, but not much else. Takuya wondered where he was going to start with T.K. It wasn't easy training someone who had almost no fighting experience to his name. Yolei and Kari did their best to ignore each other along the trip. It was for the best, as none of the teenage males nor the young man was interested in cleaning up blood stains. Tomoki wondered why the hell everyone was so quiet on the way up. Sure, it was a short walk, but one would like a _little_ conversation along the way.

Once the six made it to the fifth floor, they continued their walk down a hallway. The group passed by several doors that led to different rooms with various equipment. Generic descriptions are being given because nobody went into those rooms, so nobody could give any real details. The walking came to an end when the six reached a door at the end of the hallway. Takuya, who led the group the whole time, turned around with a smile on his face.

"Well," he said as Tomoki made his way to the door and pulled a key from his pocket. "Welcome, kids, to _La Cocina de Dolor_!"

Ken scrunched his eyebrows in confusion. "'The Kitchen of Pain?'"

"Yep. Because this room's used for cooking up some cans of whoop-ass!" Takuya grinned.

Tomoki simply rolled his eyes. "For the record, the name for the room was _his_ idea." The teens nodded in understanding as the youngest member of the entourage unlocked the door. "Now get in here so that we can make you both throw up in front of your lady-friends." The door opened to reveal the contents of the room. The six stepped in to see what there was to see.

Bright lights illuminated the door, leaving very little to the shadows. Blue mats lined the entire floor to provide a safe landing no matter where a fall was taken. The center of the room held an octagon-shaped cage, steel fencing enclosing the area while padding covered the edges for added protection. Three other doorways could be found. Two doorways, both on opposite ends of the far wall, led to dressing rooms while the third on a separate wall led to an equipment room. Speakers spotted the wall, waiting to be used by anybody with access to either a microphone or a source of music.

"Wow." T.K. said as he made his way toward the cage.

"This certainly _is_ impressive." Ken agreed as his eyes scanned the area.

Kari looked to the floor. "Why are there mats everywhere?" Takuya started walking toward the equipment room. Tomoki followed closely behind. When the older male wasn't expecting it, Tomoki swept his foot underneath one of Takuya's. The brunette tripped and fell face first onto the floor.

"That's why." Tomoki said as he laughed. Takuya quickly stood up, glaring at the younger trainer.

"Why'd you do that?" He asked incredulously.

"Because SHUT UP!" Tomoki shot back. "That's why."

Takuya rolled his eyes and turned back to the four sweat-dropping guests.

"So anyway," he said, trying to save face. "You'll notice the two dressing rooms in the back." He pointed to the two doors in the back.

"Yeah," T.K. said as he looked in the direction Takuya pointed out. "What about them?"

"You'll find your new workout clothes in there." Tomoki said, still smiling. "You two go get changed while Takuya and I get everything ready." Both teens nodded before making their way toward the rooms in question. Once at the doorways, though, T.K. and Ken traded confused looks.

"Ken's room is on the left!" Takuya shouted from across the room. "T.K.'s stuff is in the other room." With that, the two teens entered their respective dressing rooms. Tomoki made his way to the equipment room while Takuya beckoned the two girls to him.

"Care to see something funny?" He asked them with a devilish grin on his face. Kari and Yolei nodded nervously, wondering what exactly was going through his mind. Takuya grabbed their wrists and dragged them over to the door T.K. stepped through.

_Oh dear God,_ Kari thought to herself. _He couldn't...could he? Is he really _that_ kind of guy?_

Takuya forced back his guffaws as the three waited outside the doorway. Kari's eyebrow slid up along her forehead as she reconsidered her opinion.

_Maybe he's just an idiot. Which would make him less than the God I thought he was, since I like some intelligence in my men._

Moments later, though, the reason for Takuya's efforts made itself clear.

"You've got to be kidding me!" T.K. screamed from inside the dressing room. Yolei's eyebrow joined Kari's in gaining altitude.

"What's with Boy-Toy in there?" She asked, earning an uncharacteristically dark glare from Digidestinded of Light.

"First off, let's diffuse the time-bomb that's just waiting to go off." Takuya stepped between the two girls. "There we go. Now then, to answer your question, I decided to take a bit of a creative liberty with T.K.'s workout clothes."

"What kind of 'liberty'?" Kari asked. Takuya spawned a goofy grin.

"Come on out, T.K.!" He called into the dressing room.

"Hell no!" T.K. screamed back. "I'm not going anywhere in this crap!"

"Oh come on! It's not _that_ bad!" Takuya again struggled to keep from bursting out laughing.

"You're a jackass, you know that?"

"Just come out!"

"No!"

Takuya turned back to the girls. "Now then, care to see my handiwork?" Without waiting for their answer, he gently pushed the two into the dressing room. Kari quickly shielded her eyes, trying to respect her boyfriend's privacy. Yolei didn't bother, instead opting to look in a direction other than in T.K.'s. Said blond teen stood in front of a full body mirror, highly embarrassed by the sight in front of him.

"You can look, you know." Takuya said. "He's decent. Barely." He whispered the last word so that the girls couldn't quite understand him. Said girls turned to see what T.K. was so embarrassed about. The sight resulted in Yolei falling over redfaced-like, Kari developing a nosebleed so powerful it rocketed her backwards, and Takuya finally breaking down in intense laughter.

T.K. turned around and nearly screamed. He wore the green muscle shirt he'd walked into the gym with. Black, padded fingerless gloves covered his hands. Everything seemed fine, until one noticed that the Digidestined of Hope wore the_ tightest_ Speedo in _history._

Here's a tissue, ladies. Wipe the blood from your noses.

T.K. quickly opened a nearby locker door and hid behind it. He became the first human in history to put on a full-body blush as he slinked into his make-shift corner.

Takuya continued to howl at T.K.'s embarrassment. "So, big boy. Feel the breeze, yet?"

T.K. offered Takuya the legendary Single-Fingered Salute. "Go to hell, Kanbara!"

At that moment, Ken, who wasn't in nearly the embarrassed state T.K. was in and had just finished changing, stepped into his friend's dressing room.

"What's with all the noise?" He asked. Yolei turned to see her boyfriend dressed similarly to T.K., save for the Speedo. Instead, he wore silver boxing trunks. Yolei's eyes lit up like...well...lights.

"I do believe the words 'hubba' and 'hubba' are appropriate here." She said, fighting off the strong urge to lick her lips and jump Ken right then and there. Said Digidestined of Kindness simply rolled his eyes.

"Nothing's going on." T.K. said from behind his hiding place. "Just that my trainer is a jackass who needs to give me proper workout clothes."

Takuya rolled his eyes before walking over to another locker. He opened the door, pulled a pair of black trunks out, and tossed them in T.K.'s general direction.

"There, you big baby." He said. "Now get dressed and meet us outside." With that, he ushered the three out of the locker room to give T.K. his needed privacy. T.K. thanked the powers that be that no cameras were present and that his embarrassment didn't last longer than it needed to.

You're welcome, T.K.

* * *

**An entire chapter dedicated to a prank? MADNESS. Then again, I'm not exactly on the sane side, here. Another vague reference given here. I'm not going to reveal the answers to the last chapter's references for another few chapters, just to give you guys time to take a guess.**


	14. Strenuous Session

Once he finished covering his embarrassment, T.K. made his way out of the dressing room. He thumped himself on the head a few times, hoping he could force himself into forgetting about the previous moments that forced Kari to the nearest washroom. The moment he stepped out of the room, however, Yolei began cackling like Ed from _The Lion King._

"So, T.K." She managed between guffaws. "Everything in working order?"

T.K.'s faced turned tomato-red at an almost instant. So much for forgetting.

"Thad's noth of your bithneth!" Kari shouted from the washroom. She clamped her nose shut to cut off the bloodflow.

Ken raised an eyebrow. "Do I even _want_ to know what's going on?"

"No!" T.K. shouted, starting to get frustrated over the event.

"Okay, guys." Takuya held his hands up to get their attention. "Let's get down to business here."

The three still in the main workout room turned to the two trainers.

"Now then," Takuya continued. "We've got a lot of work we need to do before you two get yourselves locked up." He looked at Yolei. "Which reminds me, how much time do we have to train these knuckleheads."

Both T.K. and Ken raised an irritated eyebrow. That means they each picked one up, kiddos. The same thought crossed their minds.

_You're busy pulling pranks on the guy you're training and you're calling US knuckleheads?_

Yolei crossed her arms in front of her chest. "Well, we haven't called around about reserving a cage yet, so I'm not quite sure." At that moment, Kari reentered the room.

"We could probably arrange the match to take place in a few months." She said, dabbing her nose with a paper towel.

Takuya nodded. "That's good. Now then, we've got a lot to do today, so we should get started." With that, he walked over to the panel that controlled the sound system in the room. Thumbing a button, Takuya smiled as he prepared to let the smooth tones of rock and roll take over.

Instead, what he got was something _far_ different and _far_ more embarrassing.

"_GO GO POWER RAN-"_

Takuya quickly killed the music while the other five sweatdropped.

"Uh...ehehe...I think my little brother switched CDs on me." Said trainer took a few moments to trade out CDs. Once he was done, he pressed the proper button again and basked in the musical style of various rock bands.

"That's better." He said. Tomoki joined Takuya at the system and engaged the older man in a conversation none of the teens could see nor hear.

"What are they talking about?" Kari asked.

T.K. shrugged. "I don't know. I can't read nodding heads."

Yolei brought a finger up to her lips. "Maybe they're discussing lunch?"

Ken bopped her lightly on the head. "Yolei, why would they be talking about lunch right before a training session?"

The four noticed that the secret discussion between the trainers heated up a bit as Takuya started to flail his arms about a bit. Tomoki opted to roll his eyes and make his argument with a bit more emphasis.

"They probably can't decide where to start." Kari said. The four sweatdropped a bit as they watched Tomoki jump up a bit and slap Takuya on the back of the head. Said trainers made their way back to the teens, Takuya glaring at the younger person to his side.

"So," Tomoki said. "We talked about it, and we decided that it'd be best if I take Ken and start him on the heavy bag."

"I'll take T.K. into our cage here and start him on some basic grappling training, I guess." Takuya said. T.K. lowered his shoulders a bit.

"You guess, huh?" He said, slightly irritated.

"Yeah, well...I wanted to start you with the bags, but the brat over here..." He thumbed toward Tomoki, who glared at him. "...put up something of a convincing argument, so we'll start there."

"So then, now that we've all decided," Tomoki said. "Let's get started." He directed Ken and Yolei toward the bags that hung in a corner of the room. Takuya beckoned T.K. over to the cage and led the teen in.

"Alright then, first thing's first. Shoes and shirt, off."

T.K. looked at him confused. "Why?"

"Rules of the game. You're not allowed to wear anything other than your shorts and gloves in the cage, so we're going to practice that way. You won't be used to fighting under the rules if you don't practice under them." T.K. nodded and did as he was told. It made sense. Kari stood outside the fence in curiosity.

"Alright then." T.K. said as the two went through various warm up exercises.. "Where do we start?"

Takuya scrunched his brows. "That's a good question. You don't have any formal training, which is why I wanted to start with teaching you some striking techniques. Oh well. I guess we can start with throwing each other around."

"Works for me, I guess."

"Me too!" Kari called out from the sidelines, causing the two inside the cage to look at her oddly. Meanwhile, over at the bag section of the room, a young teen led two older ones to a large, black bag.

"Okay," Tomoki said. "So this is the heavy bag. It's...um...heavy and...uh...a bag. Any questions?"

Yolei raised both an eyebrow and her hand. "Exactly how long have you been doing this again?"

"Two years." Tomoki quickly replied.

"And that's the best intro you can come up with?"

Tomoki shrugged. "You want some long, drawn out explanation about how all we're going to do is watch while Ken here hits it over and over again?"

"It'd be nice." Ken rolled his eyes while Tomoki performed the time-honored action of bringing one's hand up to one's face. Said younger teen turned to the navy-haired one.

"How do you put up with this?" He asked.

"Years of practice." Ken answered.

"Patience of a saint..."

Yolei chose that particular moment to stomp her foot. "Yeah, thanks jackasses!"

"Anyway," Tomoki said. "Let's get started with warm ups before we do anything else."

Ken nodded before the two began said exercises. Yolei opted to sit on a nearby chair and watch her boyfriend and his trainer with a sense of interest she didn't quite expect and a raised eyebrow when Ken took off his shoes.

_Maybe I could see just how flexible Ken is_, she thought to herself with a smirk. _Maybe I could put that flexibility to good use..._

* * *

An hour later, Kari's fingers had laced themselves into the steel gate that comprised one of the eight sides of the cage. She was joking when she said that watching T.K.'s grappling training would interest her. As it turned out, she was engrossed. She watched as her boyfriend and his trainer contorted one another in manners that could only be described (in her mind, anyway) as painful to even see. Arms were twisted, legs pretzeled, necks wrenched and constricted, and encouragements and tips were heard from the older of the two males.

Yolei engrossed herself into the repeated pounding of human flesh on leather and padding. Each punch and every kick surprised Yolei. She'd seen Ken practice on his own before, but all she had seen was a level of grace and precision that most people wouldn't normally have. Seeing some of those same techniques used on heavy bags and striking gloves gave Yolei a chance to hear the power behind them. And, if volume meant anything, there was certainly a _lot_ of power behind his strikes.

After a few more minutes, and after being released from a choke hold that looked none too comfortable, Takuya stood up in the middle of the cage.

"Ho-kay..." He said as he took a deep breath. Sweat formed a rather slick layer on his skin, as well as his client's. T.K. sat on the floor and panted heavily. "Well, we've made some good progress."

"Really?" T.K. asked between deep breaths.

"Sure. I didn't think you'd catch on as quickly as you have. I figured I'd have had you screaming like a little girl by now." Takuya stifled a laugh as he spoke. T.K. couldn't help but chuckle himself.

"Hey, if you knew what I've been through, that thought wouldn't have crossed your mind."

Takuya offered the teen a hand, which he graciously took. The two walked over to the cage door, where Kari waited with a pair of towels. She handed one to each and watched as they wiped themselves down.

"I suppose we'll call it a day." Takuya said as he slipped on a shirt. T.K. nodded in agreement. "Well, don't argue to stay or anything."

"Sorry, but I feel like I need to lay down for a while."

"You've been lying down for over an hour."

T.K. rolled his eyes while he got dressed. "I meant without someone trying to break me in half."

"Oh, alright. Take a couple days off, and come back early...uh...what's today?"

Kari rolled her eyes. "Friday."

"Right! Monday, then." The two teens nodded as they made their way out of the gym. As they walked through the door, Kari leaned in close to T.K.'s ear.

"You're going to have to show me a few of those moves, T.K." she whispered.

T.K. wore a wolfish grin. "I don't think your brother would be too appreciative of that."

"What he doesn't know won't hurt him."

"It might me." Both teens laughed.

Back at the bags, Ken mimicked the actions of his slightly older friend, wiping away a layer of sweat that built up behind on his forehead.

"Welp, I think we're done today." Tomoki said.

"Great." Yolei said, hopping up from her seat. Both Ken and Tomoki eyed her oddly.

"Why is that great?" Tomoki asked.

Yolei rubbed her sore bottom. "Because I'm tired of sitting all day."

Ken scratched his head. "It's only been a little over an hour. How can you be tired already?"

"I...uh...well..."

"Patience of a saint..." Tomoki muttered under his breath. Not quite softly enough, though.

"I heard you, jackass!" Yolei screamed. "Why do you feel the need to put your opinion out there, anyway? I doubt you're even qualified to _be_ a trainer in the first place!"

"I'm qualified." Tomoki said nonchalantly. "I've got my license. I'm also a black belt in karate, jiujitsu, and a brown in taekwondo. I also know a thing or two about girls."

"Oh yeah, and how's that?" The sound of a cellphone ringtone entered the room. Tomoki quickly walked over to another chair where the ringing phone sat. He took a moment to look at the phone's Caller ID before answering.

"Hey, babe." He said. "Yeah...no...no, we just finished...yeah...ten minutes?" He looked at a clock mounted on the far wall. "Sure, I can do that. Alright, see you then." He eyed the two older teens for a moment before cradling the phone close to his mouth. "Loveyoubabebye."

Yolei grinned widely. "So, _that's_ why."

"Yolei, leave him alone." The door to the gym flew open and a familiar blonde rushed into the dressing room. The four offered Kariraised eyebrows as she stood in the doorway.

She simply shrugged. "He forgot to change before we left."

Ken turned to Tomoki. "You wouldn't happen to have anything for CGS, would you?"

Tomoki and Takuya, who heard Ken's question, burst out laughing while Kari and Yolei looked confused.

"Nope," Tomoki said between guffaws. "You're on your own for that one."

"Damn."


	15. Precarious Prelude

Three weeks passed. Three weeks of intense training, heated arguments, and loving consolation. Neither pair of teens really noticed how quickly time had passed between the first week of training and the fourth.

Not that they needed to notice it.

Ken adjusted to the training course rather easily. Due to size differences, he wasn't able to practice any of his groundwork with his personal trainer, but that didn't stop the young teen from offering direction and advice from the sidelines while said genius worked with T.K.'s trainer.

Said blond, however, didn't have as easy of a time as his younger friend. Basketball workouts condition the body for a completely different set of strenuous activities than preparing for a cage fight. Sore and strained muscles, bruising and difficulty hiding said injuries from his mother and father (when he visited) made the weeks that passed much more strenuous than necessary.

Kari and Yolei continued their apparent feud. Both teenage ladies tried their best to ignore the other when the two couples were in the same room, lest either attempt to choke out the brunette again. Yes, Kari considered choking herself out in order to drown out the painful nails to a chalkboard that was Yolei's voice. Yolei considered choking her older former friend out, but not for a quick nap. She would prefer that the sleeping period last a little longer than normal.

None of the four teens noticed that the calendar had turned much more quickly than they would have expected. Such a lapse in time awareness was thanks to one thing.

A small, orange, double-arrow shaped rock that Kari kept in her room. An accidental brush up against the rock during a heated make out session (for which, nobody was conveniently home for) sent the world careening into a dimensional-tailspin that resulted in a forward leap in time.

Kari turned the page on a magazine she was reading. An expression of boredom made its home on her face. A set of deep grunts broke the silence that Kari would have otherwise been enjoying. T.K. accompanied his girlfriend in her room, missing a key piece of clothing. Another page turned as Kari bounced on her boyfriend, who strained with each effort he gave.

"Hey," T.K. groaned. "How did you get on top of me in the first place, anyway?"

Kari turned another uninteresting page. "Simple. I got top of you when the opportunity presented itself."

T.K. pushed off against the floor again, lifting the weight of both himself as well as the girl who sat cross-legged on his bare back. "So, how did I get down here in the first place?"

"I'm not sure." Kari said as her eyebrows wrinkled. "The last thing I remember before sitting on you was you viciously attacking me in my own room."

"As I recall, _you_ dragged _me_ in here."

"Only because you didn't want to stay in the living room. Anyway, we came in here, pushed a few things out of the way and..."

"Let me guess. Everything flew by and, when it finished, everything kinda tasted purple for a second?"

"Yeah. How do we know what 'purple' tastes like, anyway?"

T.K. pushed off again. "Kari, we've crossed between dimensions multiple times in our lives. We've saved two worlds numerous times, while risking our own lives at the same time. We have friends who can grow in size, strength and B.O. almost at will."

Gatomon chose that particular time to exit her usual nest inside Kari's closet. "Hey, I take offense to that. I swear that fishy smell doesn't wash away that easily!"

T.K. rolled his eyes. "It helps if you actually use _water_ when you bathe."

"I _do_ use water! I just...don't get in it..."

"You're just as bad as Patamon, you know that?"

Kari rolled up her magazine, climbed off of T.K. and thumped her boyfriend and her digital partner on their heads. The former lost his balance and fell a whole six inches to the ground, while the latter jerked her head back in surprise and felt her ears twitch over and over again.

"Now that you two have stopped your childish bickering," she said, brandishing her disciplinary tool. "We've got someplace to be. Get dressed, T.K."

The blond picked himself up off the floor. "I need to take a shower. I don't want to go anywhere smelling like sweat."

"Fine, but hurry up. We don't have all day."

T.K .sighed. _It's a Friday during the summer_, he thought to himself. _We've got forever and a day to do whatever._ Without saying a word, he made his way to the door that led to his girlfriend's room. He opened the door, took a step back, plastered a look of shock in his face and took in a sharp breath at the sight on the other side of the hinged wood.

Not necessarily in that order.

A familiar floating mass of white and brown fur glared at the blond with uncharacteristically evil blue eyes.

"Gee, T.K." Patamon growled. "It's good to know that you think I stink."

"I never said that." T.K. said. "I just said that you don't take proper baths."

"And you don't take proper shots in basketball." Patamon shot back. "Your form sucks. No wonder why your numbers are down."

T.K.'s entire form, clothes and all, faded to a sickly white while he sulked over to a corner.

"I suck...?" He whimpered to himself. "I suck..."

Kari followed her boyfriend to the corner and patted him on the shoulder. "It's okay, T.K. He's just upset. He didn't mean it." She turned to where Patamon was. "Right...?"

Was.

Patamon disappeared. So did Gatomon. Puzzled, the two teens looked around, searching for any sign of the two data-based creatures. Nothing could be seen, but several thumps inside Kari's closet caused the two to sweatdrop.

"I hope they're not doing what I think they're doing in there." T.K. said.

"Let's just give them some privacy." Kari said, shoving her boyfriend out the door. "You need to clean up, anyway." The two teens left the room, giving the two Digimon the privacy Kari wanted them to have so that they could do their...thing.

Inside the closet, however, things weren't quite what T.K. had suspected they were. Patamon and Gatomon lay side by side while the former held a flashlight. The light shone down on a photo scrapbook that Gatomon's human partner had forgotten about.

"And here's a shot of her as a baby." Gatomon whispered, fighting back the urge to flip out over the cuteness in the shot. Patamon sighed as he eyed the shot.

* * *

Elsewhere, Ken snapped a punch into the air directly in front of him. A slight breeze blew through the open space just outside the apartment complex. His eyes focused on a spot in front of him. Another punch followed the first, the snapping of the loose, heavy cotton jacket he wore slicing through the air. He had shed himself of all outside distractions. Nothing at this moment could distract him from his exercises. His focus was intense. His mind was completely clear. Sliding one foot back, he envisioned an attacker coming at him from the side. Preparing to face said attacker, Ken turned with a fist drawn to his waist. As soon as his turn ended, he snapped his fist forward in an attempt to strike the attacker's chest.

Unfortunately for him, his "imaginary attacker" wasn't so imaginary. Nor an attacker.

A yelp snapped Ken out of his mental state and forced him to stop his strike before it made contact with a familiar set of ribs. An equally familiar mass of lavender hair suddenly dropped down as the owner fell to the ground in surprise.

"What the hell was that for?" Yolei cried out, rubbing her sore bottom.

"Yolei? What are you doing here?" Ken asked as his own sense of surprise washed over him.

"Well," she said. "I came here to pick you up."

Ken scratched his temple in confusion. "Pick me up? For what?"

"For our date, you ninny!" Yolei threw her hands into the air. "I can't believe you forgot about our date!"

"I didn't forget about it!" Ken defended. Martial arts weren't the only form of self-defense Ken practiced in his lifetime. "I thought we were going out later on tonight."

"Right. So you thought you could get away with wearing your little pajamas before seeing me?"

Ken scowled. Not the one he'd worn years before as an interdimensional terrorist, mind you. "You know, I think you'd have a little more respect for my interests than that. After all, I don't get onto you about constantly playing video games when you should be studying for college entrance exams."

Yolei rolled her eyes. "Well, _excuse me_. Not everybody's you, Ken. Not everybody can pass an entrance exam without studying thanks to a little black ball in their necks."

"Hey!" Ken snapped. "My intelligence didn't spawn from evil intentions! I studied on my own to perform as well as I do! The Spore just helped out a little, that's all!"

"Right, because a sudden drop in GPA after seeing the light means you're still smart as hell."

Both teens stared each other down in silence as moments passed by. Neither one seemed to mind the looks they got from random passerby, as minimal as they were. The staredown continued for what seemed like forever before either one spoke again. Yolei initiated the next sequence of events.

"So are you going to kiss me, or do I gotta smack you around first?"

Ken stepped forward and crashed his lips against hers. The two embraced one another and held on for a few fleeting moments. The two separated, looking longingly into one another's eyes.

"Does this seem like something out of a sappy romance novel to you?" Yolei asked.

Ken shrugged. "Wouldn't know. I've never read one."

Yolei rolled her eyes. "So, do you plan on changing out of your _gi_ anytime soon?"

"Only if you do one thing."

"What?"

"Get off my foot." Yolei looked down so see that she was indeed standing on one of her boyfriend's feet.

"Whoops!" She quickly stepped to the side."So then, you going to get ready or what?"

"I'm going to need to take a shower, you know."

"As long as you don't take as long as I do, we'll have plenty of time to go out."

Ken sighed, following with a chuckle. The two grasped each other's hands, lacing their fingers together as they made a silent trek toward the Ichijouji residence.

Well, almost silent.

"By the way, thanks for bringing up the Spore again."

* * *

The two couples went on their respective dates. Neither pair thought of the other, as the day was intended to be a day for themselves.

T.K. and Kari visited a movie theater. The lineup sparked an interest with Kari, which amused and satisfied T.K.

"That movie looks interesting." Kari said, pointing to a poster advertising a suspense flick. T.K. raised a brow.

"Since when were you into thrillers?"

"Don't know. It just looks interesting, you know?"

T.K. shrugged, then led the pair to the ticket booth to purchase the necessary documents in order to allow them entry.

Er, sorry. Too much time with Cody. He bought the two of them tickets to get into the movie theater..

Hours later, the two entered the Takaishi residence, dissatisfied with Kari's choice of films.

"That's the last time you pick the movie." T.K. huffed as he discarded his shoes.

Kari followed suit, her own pout in full force. "Fine by me. I don't want to pick out another two-hour suckfest for us to waste our time on."

"Goo-ack!" T.K., shortly after setting the shoes to the side, noticed the dark glare coming from his family's living room.

"Takeru..." The figure, shaped eerily like his mother, growled. "Come here, son..."

T.K. gulped. He turned to Kari. "You should...probably head home..."

"No!" The figure snapped, forcing both to stand straight suddenly. "She stays...maybe she could help you explain something interesting I've found..."

The two teens nervously walked into the living room, drawn by an unknown force. Natsuko lifted a television remote and, thumbing a button, started a recording of a particular segment of a television show aired earlier that day. Upon its conclusion, the two teens stood in the room, blanching to an almost sickly pale.

"Mom..." T.K. said. "I have to make a phone call."

* * *

Ken and Yolei attended a baseball game, both watching in excitement. The pair rooted for the home team, even though neither payed attention to sporting events other than the ones the navy-headed teen participated in. Once the game finished, the two exited the baseball stadium as a part of the usual mass exodus.

"That was fun!" Yolei cried out. "Our team lost, but that doesn't ruin the excitement."

"It was a really close game," Ken agreed with a smile on his face. "This makes me glad you pulled me from practice earlier."

"Doesn't it? You would've missed something great if I didn't."

Ken nodded. A thought related to his earlier activities crossed his mind. "Hey, Yolei?"

"Yeah?"

"Have you ever considered taking a martial arts class?"

Yolei scrunched her brows in thought. "Not really. I don't think I could make it through a karate class. I'm not too athletic, you know."

"Yeah, but when you put your mind to it, you can climb up a ninety-degree angle with no handholds for support."

Yolei blushed sheepishly. For all the impulsive reminders she had given Ken about his cloak and shade days, she'd completely forgotten about the depression she fell into at the time.

"Well, I wasn't exactly myself when I did that."

"You don't have to do it if you don't want to, but you might want to give it some thought. It could help control your emotions when things don't go your way."

At that time, Ken's cellphone rang. He answered it immediately, not stopping to check the Caller ID.

"Hello?...Yeah...no...why?...alright, I guess. Talk to you later then." Ken hung up, noticing the furrowed eyebrows on his girlfriend's forehead. "That was T.K. He said we needed to watch TV later on. Said there was something we needed to see."

"Huh. Alright then. Let's go home, then. It may be super important."

"Promise me one thing first, Yolei."

"What?"

"You'll give it some thought."

"I promise. Now let's go see what that brunette brat's boy-toy thinks is so important."


	16. Bombshell Broadcast

An hour after the phone call, Ken led his girlfriend to his front door. It took him considerably longer than usual for the navy-haired teen to unlock the door and allow the two entry. The reason for that, one would assume, probably had something to do with the lavender-haired teen to his left attacking his neck with the intensity of a vampire, but the care of a lover.

But nobody was supposed to know about that last part.

Ken eventually got the door open and stepped through. Yolei would have done the same, but upon moving a foot forward, she tripped over the floor, a talent that takes pure _skill_ to pull off.

Said genius spun around upon hearing the ungodly yelp released by his girlfriend, somehow managed to catch her and wrap his arms around her waist. The momentum of the fall caused the two to spin around again so that should Ken, for some odd, strange and unknown reason, decide to let go, she would land flat on her spine.

And give him hell for the rest of his life over it.

As it was, Ken decided that the best course of action at that particular moment was to lean down and capture her lips with his own.

Yolei pulled away a moment later. "You always know how to sweep me off my feet." She said with a smile.

"It's easy when you can't stay on them." Ken returned with a smile of his own.

Yolei puffed a bit. "Shut up."

Ken pulled Yolei back up to her feet, turning and locking the door behind him. All he had now was to hope that he could hopefully have a little privacy with his girlfriend.

"Oh, Ken! Is that you?"

Damn.

Both teens opted to roll their eyes, thankful that his mother couldn't see them do it.

"Yes, Momma!" He called back, hiding the irritation he was feeling.

"Good! I need to talk to you in the living room."

"Alright. Let me just call someone to give Yolei a ride home."

"No, no...I'll need to discuss something with her as well..."

The two in the doorway exchanged confused looks before trading their shoes for slippers and making their way to the Ichijouji living room. Upon entering the living room, the two immediately jumped at the sight before them.

Ken's mother wore the most irate expression on her face. One hand clinched a frying pan as tightly as humanly possible, while the other held onto a rolling pin for dear life. Her left foot tapped the ground at a pace so quick Ken wondered if she could wear a hole into the floor beneath her.

"I'm so glad you're home, Ken." She said, disdain dripping and flames spitting with every word.

Ken gulped. His mother was normally the nicest, kindest woman any human being in the world (and most Digimon) would ever have the pleasure of meeting.

Until something made her angry. When that happened, she tended to express said anger in a manner that would get the Incredible Hulk to recommend anger management classes.

"Uh...is there a problem, Momma?" He asked nervously.

"Oh, no Ken. Why would you ask something like that?" An evil smile slashed its was across her face.

"Because you look incredibly pissed off." Yolei said simply. Both members of the Ichijouji family shot her unamused looks. Her only response was to shrug.

Ken's mother turned back to her son. "Well, Ken dear. I found something _very_ interesting in your room."

Both teens paled. They hoped what she found wasn't his stash of...er... "necessities."

"What did you find, Momma?"

She chose not to speak. Instead, she walked over to the television set in the living room. She turned it on, then pressed play on the family VCR. ("Eww...VCR."

"Be quiet, Yolei.")

The video that played nearly caused the two to faint. They couldn't believe what they were seeing.

_

* * *

For the first time ever on Pay-Per-View:_

_Japan's youngest genius and soccer star, Ken 'The Rocket' Ichijouji steps into the cage against long-time friend and rival, Takeru 'T.K.' Takaishi, the 'Avatar of Hope.' Watch these two clash in a heated rematch five years in the making. Live, from the Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Japan..._

_Ichijouji...Takaishi...June 5th...Only on Pay-Per-View...

* * *

_

The television spot only lasted around 20-25 seconds in total, including doctored cheers and images, but it was certainly long enough for both teens to see their lives flash before their eyes.

Yolei's, for the second time.

"Now then..." Ken's mother growled. She had set down the frying pan while the two watched the commercial and was now tapping the rolling pin in her empty hand rather menacingly. "Perhaps one of you would be so kind as to explain to me what this is about?"

Ken, being the genius that he was, quickly found an escape route for himself.

"Uh, Yolei?" He said, getting the lavender-haired girl's attention. "Why don't you handle this? I've got an extremely important phone call to make." Before either woman in the room could stop him, Ken quickly darted out of the living room, grabbed the family phone and barricaded himself in his room.

Inside, Ken quickly dialed a number he'd become rather familiar with rather quickly. He waited for a few moments for the phone on the other side of the call to ring a couple of times before being answered.

A familiar voice responded. "_Hello_?"

"Oh, hello Davis." Ken said, disguising the anger in his voice.

"_Hey, Ken_! _What's up_?"

"Oh, nothing much. I was just wondering if I could ask you something?"

He could picture Davis' face twisting into an expression of confusion. "_Sure. About what_?"

Ken smiled. "Oh, nothing much. You see, my family bases itself on the ideas of courtesy and respect. Because of that, my mother extended me the courtesy of showing me something interesting she watched on television on this day."

"_Oookay..._?"

"It just so happened to be a short commercial that advertised something interesting. It was about the cage match that Kari and Yolei had set up for T.K. and myself."

"_Oh shit_."

"Indeed. Now to my question. What, my good friend, in the _fuck_ were you thinking?"

He could hear furious shuffling on the other end of the line. "_Dude, Ken_. _Settle down_."

"Now why the hell would I do that? I distinctly remember both T.K. and myself giving both Tai and _you_ explicit instructions not to tell _anyone_ about what we were doing and here I find out from my irate mother that you _not only_ chose to _ignore _those instructions, but you went to a goddamn television station and now they're promoting it as a Pay-Per-View event for the whole world to see!"

"_What_? _Really_? _You're gonna be on worldwide TV_? _That's so cool_!"

Ken slammed his fist into the nearest wall and almost immediately regretted the action. "Dammit, Davis! Listen to me!" He shouted as he shook the pain from his hand.

"_Ken, calm down_. _It's not that bad. Let's just meet tomorrow so that we can talk about this_."

"Yes, let's. I feel the sudden need to kick your ass as hard as humanly possible and I'm sure Yolei would like a shot as well."

"_Yeah, whatever. I'll come over to your place so I can explain everything._"

"Good. Make sure you that you _do_ get here, or I swear I will hunt you down and make you regret opening your mouth for the rest of your natural life."

"_Alright, alright_!_ I'll see you tomorrow._"

"Fine." Without another word, Ken immediately ended the call. He took a few moments to calm himself down. As soon as he did, he exited the room and was greeted by an unusual calm. He stepped into the living room to find Yolei and his mother sitting down. Neither one looked like they did a few moments ago. In fact, they had just finished laughing to a joke Yolei had told a second earlier.

"Uh...everything okay?" Yolei asked.

Ken looked puzzled at her."Yeah, why?"

"Well, dear," his mother answered. "We heard you shouting loudly and hitting something in your room. Is there some kind of problem?"

"Yes, but it's something that'll resolve itself when we meet with Davis tomorrow." Ken said, hoping Yolei would get the not-so-subtle hint.

"I see. Perhaps I should sit in with the three of you. I'm interested to see what this whole thing is about."

Ken raised an eyebrow. "Didn't Yolei tell you about it?'

"Yes, but I'd like to get Kari's side of the story. Will that be a problem?"

"Not at all, Momma." Ken said as he shook his head. "Now then, we should probably get to bed. We need all the rest we can get if we're going to chew Davis up like a piece of bubblegum."

"I should probably get home, then." Yolei said, standing up. "I don't want my folks to worry."

"Oh, no." Ken's mother replied. "You can stay here for the night. I'll just call your parents and let them know."

"Alright, then." Ken noted the lack of an argument from his girlfriend.

"If you two can behave yourselves, Yolei can stay in Ken's room for the night."

"Alright. Shall we?" Without another word, the three made their way to the proper rooms. Inside Ken's room, the two teens quickly changed into some night clothes Ken kept in his closet. The two climbed the short ladder up to his bed, and slid under the sheets.

"So," Yolei said as Ken grasped her from behind and buried his face into her neck. "Who gets the first kick?"

"You do, of course." Ken said.

"Good."

Neither one said another word, letting a sense of calm and quiet lull them into a deep and delightful slumber.

"Moe~..."

Well, almost.


	17. Tense Talk: Side A

Most people who fall asleep with their girlfriend expect to wake up to a beautiful sight in the morning.

Most people expect to wake up with a familiar shade of hair color as the first thing they see.

Most people expect to wake up to the wondrously familiar scent of the one they care about the most.

They do not expect to have difficulty breathing.

They do not expect to wonder how many cracked ribs they may have.

And they most certainly do NOT expect to be abruptly yanked from the world of slumber by the person they fell asleep with suddenly plopping themselves onto their chest.

Most people are not Ken Ichijouji.

Oh well. At least the lips smearing themselves all over his neck were rapidly making up for the immense discomfort his girlfriend had up him through moments before. Just as long as she remembered not to...oh! Right there!

Ken wriggled around a bit, trapped underneath the covers of the bed he and his girlfriend _calmly_ shared the night before, thankyouverymuch. He struggled to get his arms out, causing Yolei to giggle slightly against his skin. Once he was able to, Ken wrapped his hands around Yolei's hips. At this point, he had a decision to make. He could gently push her off of him so that the two could prepare for the day. He could roughly shove her off, then proceed to say something about appropriate ways to wake someone up that _don't_ involve causing injury.

Or, he could take Option C.

There is no Option C? There's always an Option C.

In this case, Option C was for Ken to grasp said hips rather forcefully and roll over, causing his girlfriend to yelp in surprise while Ken planted her on her back. He then proceeded to return the favor and plant kisses of his own along the outside of Yolei's throat. The two teens let their hands roam wherever they could, hoping to push the envelope as far as it could...

"Ken, dear! I'm leaving for work!"

...until his mother walked into the room and set it ablaze. Said mother walked in to the sight of Ken assaulting Yolei in a manner that would cause most mothers to explode with the force of an atom bomb and the fury of Hell after being struck with a sudden and unexplained blizzard.

Instead, she remained eerily calm as the two teens bug-eyed her and said one simple sentence before walking out.

"Don't forget what's in your nightstand, young man." As soon as she was out of earshot, Yolei eyed Ken.

"What exactly do you have in your nightstand?"

Ken rolled his eyes at his girlfriend's implication. "A bill. Momma wants me to send off payment for the electricity before the mail is delivered this afternoon."

"Damn."

With that, the two teens reluctantly pushed themselves off of the bed. Ken sauntered over to his closet and began searching for clothes for the new day. Yolei waited on the bed for a minute or two before slinking up behind her boyfriend and wrapping her arms around his waist.

"Got anything for me?" She asked as she rested her chin on his shoulder.

"No. Momma had me throw everything away when she found a lace number I got for you."

Yolei's eyes bugged. "You got me lace?"

"No," Ken said as he rolled his own. "I've got something _somewhere_ in here. I've just gotta find it." A few more minutes passed while Ken continued his search. Deeper and deeper he dug, until it got to the point where the only sign that there was even someone _there_ was the pile of clothing that moved around unnaturally.

"Aha!" Ken yelled, though muffled by the several pounds of fabric that weighed him down. He fought through the mountain until he emerged from the top, holding a pink T-Shirt in his hand in victory.

Silence filled the room.

Ken looked around quizzically before _finally _noting that there was nobody in the room. Ken swam out of his closet and made his way out to the living room, where a familiar mess of lavender hair sat on the couch watching TV.

"What are you doing out here?" Ken asked as he sat next to Yolei.

Yolei shrugged. "I got bored waiting for you to find something for me." She eyed the shirt in his hand. "I'm not wearing that."

"Why not?"

"Because you'll have thoughts during the upcoming conversation with Davis that you shouldn't be having around others."

Ken rolled his eyes and lightly thumped Yolei on the top of her head. "Yeah. Lord knows I should keep thoughts about the potential a shirt like this has to destroy one's wardrobe if you're not careful with it."

Yolei rubbed her head. "Exactly. And God knows that the last thing you need to do is mull over something that has no relevance with the situation at hand. Now go find me something else."

"You _do_ realize how long it took for me to find this, don't you?"

Yolei simply nodded. "I'll wait."

"I won't find anything else in there until Davis gets here!"

Rather than acknowledge that her boyfriend had a complaint, Yolei simply dismissed Ken with a wave of her hand. Said navy-haired teen released an exasperated sigh before trudging back toward his room. Just before he walked in, however, the phone began to ring.

Ken answered the phone. "Ichijouji Residence."

"_Ken_?" A familiar voice came from the other side.

"Oh, hello T.K. What can I do for you?"

"_Well,_" T.K. hesitated. "_Actually, I was wondering if Kari and I could meet you at your house. We've __got something important I think you'll need to see._"

"Uh..." Ken looked to see Yolei keeping her attention directed toward the TV and the cooking program airing at the moment. "Are you sure that's a good idea? I don't really want an incident in our apartment."

"_Yolei's there, isn't she?_"

"Yeah." T.K. hesitated again, Ken noted. _He must be rethinking the idea of the two of them coming over._

"_I think we'll be fine._"

Ken hesitated himself as he considered the possibilities of getting two volatile teens together in the same room to discuss something that came about as a result of said teens getting into a pointless fight over an unnecessary insult.

"...alright." He turned away and lowered his voice so that Yolei, if she were listening, couldn't hear what he was saying. "I'll be sure and secure potential weapons in our house."

Because he was turned away, he didn't see Yolei's ears twitch slightly. Nor did he see evil smile that spread across her face.

"_Okay._" T.K. chuckled at the other end. "_We'll be there in a few hours._"

"Okay then. See you." Ken turned the phone off and placed it back on its cradle.

Ken was said to have incredible levels of intelligence, even despite the considerable and mysterious (to most) dive he took in elementary school. He was said to have extraordinary skill on the soccer pitch, even despite the sudden disinterest in acting as his team's captain. He was said to be a great fighter, even despite the licking he took that went unbeknownst to almost everyone who paid attention to him.

However, despite all of that, nobody could really accuse Ken of being too aware of his surroundings.

So it wasn't too out of place when a certain teenager who, only moments before, _had_ been sitting peacefully on his couch suddenly wrapped her arms around his waist for the second time that morning. Unlike the first time,_ this_ embrace was considerably tighter and a whole _hell_ of a lot more painful.

"Yolei!" Ken cried out. "What do you think you're doing?"

"Asking a question." Yolei said as she lifted the teen into the air with surprising strength. "That _bitch_ is coming over here, isn't she?"

Ken kicked out in random directions. "No! Why would she do that?"

"Liar." With that, Yolei proceeded to bring Ken down harshly. The navy-haired teen hoped that she would just squeeze him a little tighter. Instead, she opted to kneel down as she brought her boyfriend down. Ken't tail-end landed squarely and heavily on Yolei's still extended knee as she yelled, "COCCYX CRUSHER!"

The impact nearly lived up to the moves' name, as Ken rolled around with his hands on his backside, howling in agony and misery. Yolei cackled wildly at her boyfriend's misery.

"What was that for?" Ken cried as he...well...cried.

"Lying to me." The lavender-haired girl answered sugar-sweetly, as though she were innocent of all crimes. "So when are the wench and his bitch coming over?"

Ken struggled up to his feet, trying to deal with the literal pain in his ass. "I don't know. Which...ow...is why we need to...ooh...get dressed now." Ken reached around to try and rub on the injury, only to have his hand beaten to the punch by one that did _not_ belong to him, thank you very much.

Yolei looked at Ken with a wolfish (_The hell?_ Ken thought) grin. "Maybe we could save some time and shower together?"

Ken rolled his eyes, then paused for a moment. "Eh, why not?" He shrugged, much to Yolei's surprise. "But you'd better behave yourself." Yolei playfully pouted and leaned in for a kiss as Ken led the two into the bathroom.

* * *

Close to an hour later, the two teens emerged from the bathroom dressed and red as beets. Whether the redness was from the heat of the bath or from their...togetherness...is for another day, however.

"So..." Yolei said, her voice a touch higher than normal. "Now we wait."

"Yes. Yes indeed."

The two nervously shuffled around a bit.

"We could go back in for a couple of minutes." Yolei suggested. Ken mulled over it for a second before the doorbell rang.

"Can't." Ken quickly snapped. He didn't mean for his answer to come out like that, but a combination of nerves and surprise got to him. "We've got company." He quickly stepped to answer the door.

"Hello...oh." He noted two familiar teens on the opposite side of the door. "Kari, T.K. How are you?"

"Fine." Answered the smiling blond on the other side. "How are you?"

"Fine. What was it you two wanted to see me about?"

Kari's smile, which was infinitely darker than her boyfriend's, widened a bit. "This." T.K. yanked at something to their side. A second later, a familiar spiked red-head stumbled into view with his hands tied behind his back and a gag stuffed into his mouth.

Ken himself sneered. "This'll be interesting."


	18. Tense Talk: Side B

T.K. was normally one of sound mind. He was rarely flustered by anything that the world might throw at him. After all, he took a lot in a dimension the majority of society had only had their eyes opened to a few short years ago and kept rolling with the punches, only really losing his cool twice the entire time.

He was almost _never_ stunned or shocked by anything that went on in the human world. Things were predictable, meaning that anyone with a sense of pattern recognition would be able to tell when things were going to happen.

So, it surprised Kari very much to find that the morning after the phone call that would lead Ken into a fit of anger, said blond had taken to repeatedly thumping his head against the wall, asking the same simple question.

"How did I get involved in this mess...?"

Kari nervously shifted on her feet as T.K. continued to lower the number of brain cells in his skull until he felt he'd reached the level of stupidity that laced itself throughout the entire situation.

"Um, T.K..." She said, her words just as nervous as her shifts. "I think you should stop now."

"Why?" T.K. asked, continuing his headbanging sans metal rock. "This is what I'm being reduced to. Might as well get a head start."

"Maybe, but I don't want you getting blood on the walls. You might also need the brain cells."

T.K. withdrew from the wall, revealing that he'd been a bang or two too late. A small red smudge sat on the otherwise pristine white wall in the Kamiya residence. A matching line of red liquid slowly made its way down his face. Kari held back a fit of rage. After all, she couldn't really blame him since something that was supposed to be a secret from their families ended up being revealed to the entire world on TV.

And it was apparently supposed to _happen_ on TV, making things that much worse.

Kari's head sunk on her neck. "Wonderful."

T.K. plugged up the bleeding spot on his forehead with a single finger. "Are you concerned about my head or the wall?"

"Not you." Kari said as she walked to get a cloth to clean up the messes. "That paint was brand new, and you just ruined it."

The blond member of the couple rolled his eyes. "Glad to see that you care. How long was I doing that, anyway?"

Kari returned with a pair of cloths. One was damp to clean off the wall, while the other was dry. She handed the dry one to T.K. so that he could clean himself off as well.

"I'll put it to you this way. I had time to rent and watch all six _Aliens_ movies, _Titanic_, host an outdoor barbecue, insulate the house, find a cure for cancer and figure out if Yolei's hair color is natural or not."

"Oh come on! There's no way you could've done enough research on Yolei's hair! The Pentagon hasn't figured it out yet. _The Pentagon_ for God's sake!" To emphasize his point, T.K. flailed his arms about comically.

Kari giggled at her boyfriend's antics. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, though I don't think I was knocking my head hard enough cut myself."

"You didn't," Kari confirmed as she wiped away the small smear of blood on the wall. "But you _did_ wing yourself on a rusted nail."

T.K. looked over the wall quizzically. He didn't quite believe it when his girlfriend told him that he'd hit himself on an oxidized piece of home improvement hardware. She probably just told him that to-

Wait!

There it was! A bent, slightly rusted nail with a familiar looking red liquid threatening to drip off the end. T.K. blinked a few times, staring at the nail as Kari wiped her cloth over it to clean it off. The situation presented itself in his mind.

Wall.

Forehead.

Nail.

Rust.

Blood.

Oh.

"Crap!" He shouted before running around the apartment in terror. "OhGodohGodohGodhelpme!"

Kari rolled her eyes. "Stop overreacting."

"But I can feel the Tetanus creeping up on me through my bloodstream!"

"T.K..."

Said blond grasped as his neck harshly. "I can feel my jaw locking up on me..."

Kari clenched a fist. "T.K..."

T.K. collapsed to his knees, gritting through tightly clenched teeth. "Itshh...threee...ehhhnt..." With that, he fell flat onto his back and frothed a touch at the mouth.

Kari growled deeply. "T.K...I swear to God if you don't pick yourself up off the floor, I'll beat the living hell out of you so hard you'll never even make it back out my door, let alone to the goddamn Tokyo Dome for your match!"

Moments of silence passed. Neither teen budged an inch.

"T.K..."

More silence.

"Damn it T.K.!"

T.K. held up a single finger as if to make a point. "I can't, Kari. I'm supposed to be dead." And so, he turned his head and drooped his tongue out of his mouth rather dramatically.

Kari couldn't remain angry at her goofy-acting boyfriend's antics. Instead, she played along and forced herself to hold a solemn look. She slowly walked over to T.K.'s fallen form and draped the wet and slightly red cloth over his face. She then clapsed her hands together and sat on her knees at his head.

"Poor T.K..." She said. "He will be missed. He, after all, was such an idiot."

"You know..." The "dead" teen muffled through the cloth. "If it weren't for this towel, I'd probably have a great angle to see your..."

"Watch it." T.K.'s mother, who both teens had forgotten was home and in the living room, growled.

"...angelic face."

"Nice save." Kari giggled.

T.K. pulled the cloth off of his face and sat up. "What I want to know is, how the hell did this happen?"

"Well," Natsuko brought a finger to her chin. "It first started when you walked into the apartment. We saw a commercial that should probably never have been aired..."

"Probably? Hell, I shouldn't even be taking part in this damn fight to begin with!"

Kari raised an eyebrow. "And why not?"

"Because _you_, of all people, should know how to control her temper and admit when she's wrong!"

"Oh, so now this whole thing is my fault?"

T.K. grasped at the bridge of his nose, hoping to hold back a headache he was sure was coming. This wasn't the way he'd wanted this conversation to go. The only thing he could think of to save him was some kind of interruption that would draw his beloved's ire away from their current topic of discussion.

"T.K.!" Patamon shouted from inside the teen's bedroom. Speak of the devil. "You got an email!"

"Okay." T.K. said as he rushed into this room, not giving Kari a chance to scold him. He picked up the D-Terminal that sat on his bed and flipped open the top to read the email.

_To: T.K._

_From: Davis_

_Subject: Dude!_

_Open your door. It's frickin' cold out here!_

T.K. raised an eyebrow. _He's not serious, is he? It's summer for God's sake! _Deciding that it was best to see what the moron was up to, he left his room and made his way toward the front door.

"What was the email about?" Kari asked as her boyfriend passed her.

"You'll see." Was all he said. He stopped in front of the door and turned to his mother. "Get the rope, Mom."

"With gusto."

Normally, any mother would be upset with their offspring if they tried to give them an order. In this case, however, Natsuko leaped onto her feet and set off to retrieve the constrictive item in question. Kari watched with a mixture of confusion and interest.

"What do you need rope for?" She asked just as Natsuko released a cry of victory upon finding the rope in the fridge.

The fridge.

"Better question, what the hell was it doing in the fridge?" T.K. asked, confused himself. Natsuko nervously scratched at the back of her head.

"Patamon thought it was pasta and wanted to save it for later."

The two teens wordlessly shook their heads before Natsuko positioned herself next to her son. The two stared at each other for a moment before T.K. started a slow, fingers-only countdown.

_3...2...1..._

T.K. yanked the door open, allowing Natsuko to leap out onto the person on the other side and, in a level of expertise unbeknownst to two of the three teens, commenced to tightly wind the rope around the helpless victim and bind him before he could realize what was happening. With one last yank, the teen's balance failed him and he fell face forward into the Takaishi residence.

"Dude!" The bound teen shouted from the floor. "What the hell?"

"First off," Kari shouted over Davis. "You have no room to bitch! You're costing us an _eternity's_ worth of dignity with this worldwide fight bullshit!"

"Secondly," Natsuko cried out herself. "You're bothering us so early in the morning that the thought of coming over here shouldn't have _even_ crossed your mind!"

"And finally," T.K. jumped in. "You're a dumbass for being cold in the middle of summer! Summer, for God's sake!"

Everyone _not _named Takeru turned to look at the blond with upturned eyebrows.

"What? I needed a reason to yell at him and you two took the good ones. Anyway, now that the dipstick is here, I've got a phone call to make."

As the blond teen walked over to the family phone, his mother and his girlfriend picked up the tied-up twit and hauled him into the living room.

"Damn, Davis..." Kari groaned under his weight. "Don't you know you're supposed to serve the customers first, not yourself?"

"Oh shut up. I'm not that heavy."

"Speak for yourself." Natsuko growled herself. "I think I just developed a hernia."

"Thanks you two. Way to make a guy feel-mmph!" Davis would've finished his none-too-original quip, but Kari took the time to take the cloth that T.K. had used to clean his head and stuffed it into his mouth as a makeshift gag.

"Good thinking." Natsuko said.

"Thanks. I hope he doesn't contract HIV or anything. That'd be odd for T.K. to explain to everyone."

"Well," T.K. said as he rejoined the ladies and their captor. "I got us an appointment at Ken's. I didn't specify a time, so maybe we won't run into Yolei."

"Oh good." Natsuko said. "I'll give you three a ride, and you can explain what in the bloody blue hell is going on here."

T.K., anticipating such a response from his mother, quickly devised a response as he hefted Davis onto his shoulder.. "It might take a while for us to pound out the details. And Davis." Said rope victim squirmed slightly. "You think you could find us something to eat while we get the basic stuff out of the way?"

Natsuko eyed her son for a moment before agreeing. With that, the four (well, three that could walk) made their way to the Takaishi family car. What should've been a short car ride from there was elongated by unnecessarily congested streets which wore at four sets of nerves.

"Ahhr rree eeeree yeehh? (Are we there yet?)" Davis asked through his gag from the back seat.

"No." Kari growled.

A few seconds of silence passed. "Ahhr rree eeeree yeehh?"

"No..."

More silence. "Ahhr rree eeeree yeehh?"

"No..."

"Ahhr rree-mmph!" Davis had been summarily thumped on the back of the head by T.K., who was sitting next to him. Said spiked teen learned his lesson and kept his mouth shut.

Well, as shut as he could with a gag in it.

A few minutes later, the three teens found themselves riding up an elevator at Ken's apartment complex. Words needed not to be exchanged. The silence and anticipation of the confrontation to come was enough to create the silence that spawns thought.

_Well, _T.K. thought to himself. _Hopefully Yolei won't be there and, if she is, the girls won't start anything._

_Well,_ Kari mused. _Hopefully Davis has a legitimate reason for a commercial advertising Ken and T.K.'s fight. Otherwise, he's screwed._

_Damn_, Davis mulled. _This rope's rubbing me raw all over. How the hell does Ms. Takaishi even know _how_ to tie someone up, anyway?_

Before the three knew it, they stood before the door that led into the Ichijouji residence. T.K. took a deep breath before thumping his knuckles on the door a couple times. Kari adjusted her captive so that he would be out of sight to whoever was going to answer. A moment later, a familiar looking navy-haired teen opened the door.

"Hello...oh, Kari, T.K. How are you?"

"Fine." T.K. responded, forcing a smile on his features. "How are you?"

"Fine. What was it you two wanted to see me about?"

Kari, who'd easily formed a dark smile of her own, tilted her head slightly. "This." She gave a hard yank, forcing the constricted Davis to stumble into his sight.

Ken sneered. "This'll be interesting."


	19. Tense Talk: Side Three

**No, the chapter title is _not_ a mistake.**

_

* * *

Okay_, a temporarily disabled teen thought to himself. _Let's take stock of the problem here. I wanted to go to T.K.'s house to talk to him about the basketball team at school. When he opened the door, his psycho-ass mother tied me up and dragged me in. From there, I got bitched at from all directions before being dragged into a car and over to Ken's house._

_And let's not forget that Ken himself is not very happy with me either after he found out that I talked to someone about his and T.K.'s cage fight. Now, here I am, sitting on the couch in Ken's living room, looking back at two of the most heated glares I think I've ever seen._

_Someone help me._

Indeed, the spike-haired teen sweat profusely as Ken Ichijouji and Takeru Takaishi, likely the two most irate teenagers in the world at the moment, stared at him with eyes so intense with rage that he could _swear_ that they were looking directly into his soul and pondering the various ways they could kill the teen and leave no forensic evidence.

And Ken was studying to be a police officer. He could _easily_ make it happen.

Moments of silence passed. Ken slowly drummed his fingers against his arm in thought. T.K. tapped his foot against the floor in a similar fashion. Davis, still bound by the rope that the head of the Takaishi household captured him with, could only sit and wonder. And wait.

And hope to God that he'd get out of the apartment alive.

While Ken and T.K. pondered what to do with the idiot, as the two wordlessly agreed to call him, the better halves of the two certainly weren't acting like it. Kari and Yolei exchanged glares with one another.

"So, whore..." Yolei growled. "Who invited you here anyway?"

"Your boy-bitch, that's who." Kari answered.

"Watch your mouth, little girl. You never know when you're going to get the hell beaten out of you because of the shit that might come out of it."

Kari rolled her eyes."Oh please. If you had a big enough set to do anything, you'd have done it by now, rather than run your mouth like always."

Yolei, rather than immediately retorting, retreated quickly into her boyfriend's bedroom and slammed the door. Kari stood and stared dumbfounded while a series of dull thumps came from the other side.

"Uh...what is she doing?"

Both Ken and T.K. turned to regard the pink-adoring teen and shrugged. Their priorities were still primarily focused on the moron in rope.

"You know, Davis." Ken said, his eyebrow twitching slightly. "You never answered my question."

If Davis could've scratched his head, he would've. "Uh...what question?"

A small sneer formed on his face. The teens in the room that _weren't_ Ken shuddered a bit. "Don't you remember? I asked you last night. I suppose I could repeat myself this one time."

"Uh..."

A knock came from the front door. T.K. walked over to it. "That's probably my mom. I asked her to pick up come lunch for us. Do you mind if I let her in?"

"No," Ken shook his head. "Go ahead."

T.K. opened said front door, revealing said mother with said lunch. Said.

Natsuko held out a pair of plastic bags. "I hope you guys don't mind, but I picked up a few sandwiches from the store down the street. So, has BitchFest 20XX started yet?"

T.K. shook his head as he took the bags from her. "Not yet. You're just in time."

The door to Ken's bedroom flew open suddenly. The four teens and one adult turned toward the now exposed room. Or at least, it would've been if it weren't for the teen standing in the doorway. The group raised a collective eyebrow at the sight before them. Yolei had hastily changed outfits, though one wouldn't have been able to tell. She stood before the group in a purple tuxedo with a white button-down shirt and purple tie. Her hand held a black cane, while a purple fedora sat on her head.

"Damn..." Kari said. "What the hell happened to you?"

"Is that my Halloween costume from last year?" Ken asked rather incredulously.

Yolei scoffed a bit. "Ahem. Let us pray the 'Pimp's Prayer'." Faces fell in disbelief at Yolei's statement. Said lavender-haired teen tucked the cane under an arm and placed her hands together in front of her. She slowly strolled into the room and toward Kari as she spoke.

"Lord, please pray for the soul of this bitch. And guide my hand and make it strong, Lord, so that she might learn a ho's place. Amen." She bowed, signaling the end of her 'prayer'.

"Amen! Yeah!" Davis shouted from the couch. The other five glared in his general direction. "Sorry...kinda got into the moment..."

Yolei turned back toward the brunette before her and saw the perfect opportunity. She reared her hand back and prepared to finish the ritual. Before she could, though, Ken took notice and hastily walked over to her, grabbing her wrist. The two began a silent, expression-only argument while Natsuko, Kari and T.K. continued to eye the bound teen.

"Anyway..." Kari eventually said, breaking the silence. "Where were we?"

T.K. picked up a finger. "We were about to bitch Davis out for opening his mouth, I think." He turned to the silent bickerers. "Right?"

Said teens snapped away from one another, putting on an appearance that betrayed their argument.

"Uh...Right." Ken said before turning his attention back toward the roped redhead. "Now then...What in the bloody blue hell's mother of damnation were you thinking opening your mouth?"

If Davis could've scratched his head, he would've. "Uh...think you can fit another swear somewhere in there?"

"I'm serious, Davis!" Ken shouted. Natsuko took the opportunity to grab one of the convenience store sandwiches and commence to chomping. "Do you realize what kind of situation you've put the four of us in by talking to a _television station_?" Ken made sure to emphasize the last two words of his sentence in an attempt at bringing the whole thing into perspective.

T.K. chose to chime in. "Because _you_ felt the need to say something, now we're expected to air out our dirty laundry, laundry that shouldn't have been dirty from the start..." He looked at the two teenage ladies, who both shifted uncomfortably on their feet. "...in front of the whole goddamn world!"

Kari's turn. "It wasn't bad enough for us after the whole Digital World debacle, was it? Did you think that we'd get more attention than we need and, by extension, you'd end up getting more too?"

Yolei. "This whole thing was supposed to be a private matter between the four of us, _Davis_! Now the whole world's gonna think we're incredible idiots who signed on for this whole thing for a paycheck!"

"You know..." Natsuko said, her mouth half full of sandwich. "These things aren't half bad." Five teens shot her unamused looks at her attempt to break the tension.

"Keep looking at me like that, T.K., and you won't be playing basketball any time soon."

Five flat looks quickly dropped to four.

Davis wriggled on the couch a bit, sweating a bit. "Look, this isn't what you guys think!"

"Oh really?" Ken asked, venom beginning to drip from his words. "Then what exactly are we supposed to think?"

"It's not completely my fault! I didn't talk to anybody at a TV station!"

"Then who _did _you talk to?" Kari asked. Yolei opted to walk over to Natsuko and grab a sandwich for herself.

Davis' sweat glands picked up a little more, causing unpleasant friction between his skin and the rope. "Uh...a guy..."

T.K. raised an eyebrow. "What guy?"

The sweat glands in question cranked things up to eleven. "A guy...we know...who might...know a guy...in the TV business..."

Everyone not named Takeru raised an eyebrow to join his. If nothing else, Davis played the "Vague" card very well.

"Who thoo we thow thaa thowth thomonth ith thhe theevee bidth?" Yolei asked through a full mouth.

"Chew, swallow, then try again." Ken said.

Yolei did as she was told. "That's what she said." Five bodies jerked a bit. "Anyway, who do we know that knows someone in the TV biz?"

Kari shrugged. "I don't know anyone."

Ken shook his head. "Me neither."

A few moments of silence passed while the teens considered the riddle. Eventually, however, something finally occurred to one person.

"T.K..." Natsuko said. "Isn't your father still working at that TV station?"

"Yeah..." T.K. let the thought brew for a few moments before finally realizing what she was getting at. "And dipshit over there said it was somebody we knew that knows him."

"So then, that could only leave one person in the world that he could've possibly talked to."

The answer then dawned on the remaining three teens. Ken, T.K., Kari and Yolei all looked at one another and spoke simultaneously and unanimously.

"Matt."

Natsuko passed out the remaining sandwiches. "You know, T.K., I remember Matt saying that he'd be coming home sometime today."

T.K.'s eyes bugged just as he opened the plastic pack containing freshly sealed deliciousness. "Really? We gotta go if we're gonna talk to him." The others silently nodded. Natsuko took the lead as the group filed out of the Ichijouji residence, save for one young teen.

"Hey!" Davis shouted after them. "What about me?"

Yolei ran back into the apartment. With a deep breath, she reared her hand back and struck Davis on the cheek with as much force as she could muster. Immediately after making contact, she held her hands in front of her and bowed once again before uttering a single word.

"Amen."

Yolei once again ran, this time out of the apartment. Davis sat unmoving until the door closed completely.

_So..._he thought to himself. _You got yourself tied up. You got slapped hard. You got left behind while _still_ tied up, and you didn't even get a sammitch._

Two words summed up his situation accurately.

_This sucks._


End file.
